Bellefonte, Pa., February 21, 1919.
ONE WINTER DAY.
By Winifred Meek Morris.
Good morning! All the world’s awake,
The sun is just above the hills,
The winter-birds fly high, to watch the
sunbeams play
Ere from the sky they make their way,
To warn us of the comings of the day.
Good day! for all the world’s a throb,
The warm, bright sun is streaming full,
And everywhere a busy life moves on to
wrest
Its share, in tolls of work and play,
And so make full the living of today.
Then finally, with the going of the sun,
A soft, calm twilight covers all alike—
Success and failure—while shadows of the
night
Bring hopeful rest to toilers in life's way,
A blessed quiet marks the closing of the
day.
Then let’s forget that yesterday was ever,
There is no need of worry o'er the morrow
Today's enough—it will suffice for joy
The only surcease of all sorrow.
“Why Worry!”
WwW. B. Mm.
EFFORT IN WISCONSIN
CHECK BOLSHEVISM.
Madison, Wis.—Wisconsin is the
first State to take official recognition
of the growth of the Bolshevik move-
ment in America, but is also the first
to propose a legislative program to
combat this anarchistic trend by the
removal of the causes on which Bol-
shevism thrives.
Whatever spirit of Bolshevism does
exist in the State, whether in the open
or in secret, must be nipped in the
bud, and without delay, is the report
of the State Legislative committee ap-
pointed to investigate the post-war
situation, and to propose legislation
to aid the State in its readjustment
campaign. Adoption of a soundly
progressive program is the way to sti-
fle Bolshevism, by the removal of the
discontent upon which this anarchis-
tic spirit thrives, says the State com-
mittee.
The report, filed with the Legisla-
ture by State Senatory Ray P. Wilcox,
declares that there is in Wisconsin a
Bolshevik movement in the making,
but recommends an instructive pro-
gram of legislation to counteract this
propaganda.
Bolshevism, according to the report,
is a “menace” in that, while essenti-
ally a revolutionary movement, “its
method is terrorism.” The report
maintains “through its influence the
desire for better things has, among
“the ignorant been perverted into a
revolutionary movement,” and that
the professional agitator, and the po-
litical agitator have used it to organ-
ize the uniformed parts of our popu-
lation.” The report asserts “that it
is also a convenient cloak of many
who did not give to the nation during
the war whole-hearted support.”
The following are among the im-
portant recommendations:
Representation of labor on boards
of directors of industries.
A basis of eight-hour day.
A dismissal wage, to enable a work-
er to live through the period of read-
justment.
Equal pay for women.
Extension of the minimum
law to men.
Creating of a State marketing com-
mission.
Large appropriations to provide aid
to farmers’ co-operative organizations
by auditing and bookkeeping experts.
Appointment of a special assistant
Attorney General to investigate un-
fair practices and discriminations
against farmers, producers, by per-
sons both within and without the
State.
Protection of the interests of the
small middleman.
Agricultural representation on the
boards of normal, university and cen-
tral boards of education.
Protection for any person who
leaves his produce with non-coopera-
tive creameries, cheesemakers and
condensories by bonding of the con-
cern to prevent loss through manage-
ment.
Guarantees by law to employers and
employees of the right to organize
and bargain collectively.
Authorization of all cities to raise
funds by taxation or bond issues to
provide for city planning and suitable
housing facilities.
Rehabilitation of victims of indus-
trial accidents by the State Board of
Vocational Education.
Organized labor to be represented
on the educational boards of the State.
Compulsory industrial courses in
continuation school during periods of
enforced idleness and non-employ-
ment.
Extension of vocational education
to persons from 17 to 18 years of age.
Appointment of a committee to
work out a program for the establish-
ment of social insurance.
One day of rest in seven.
Inclusion of occupational diseases
under the workmen’s compensation
act.
Increased maximum basis of com-
pensation from $2.50 to $4 a day.
Higher salaries for school teachers.
Medical inspection of school -chil-
dren.
Scholarships for working boys and
girls from continuation schools and
returned soldiers.
In the normal schools and universi-
ties these scholarships from vocation-
al schools shall be recognized.
Easier methods for constitutional
amendment.
In discussing marketing, the report
of the committee maintains that
“whatever may have been the faults
of the different food administrations
in the different countries, they never-
theless showed that the big food spec-
ulators could be curbed and the inter-
ests of the consumer and producer
tected.” The report says the war
protected.” The report says the war
ization of producers and consumers to
get the best results, and that the war
countries learned that production
should be greatly simplified and made
economical by combination of the pro-
ducers.
In discussing the labor situation the
report contends that “the war secur-
TO
wage
ed for labor a measure of justice
greater than had ever been given it
before” and “the necessity of labor to
the national welfare in the time of
war was clearly perceived.”
A plea for industrial co-operation
to replace industrial warfare follows
the assertion that it was clearly dem-
onstrated during the war that labor
and capital, when properly represent-
ed, can amicably adjust differences.
The report proposes a $50,000,000
road program, maintaining that high-
ways should be built as fast as possi-
ble, and that Wisconsin should not lag
behind Minnesota and Illinois. “The
building of highways will furnish a
large field of employment,” says the
report. It suggested that the work
be under the direction of the State
Highway Commission.
Peanut Crop Rivals Cotton.
As the war has quite accustomed
people to think in large numbers, it
may be quite easy for some to think
of 2000 tons of peanuts—Spanish pea-
nuts—Ilittle peanuts, each one taking
up just a very tiny bit of the earth’s
surface, but nice, oily peanuts, just
the same, and hundreds and hundreds,
and thousands and thousands of them.
These little peanuts, 2000 tons of
them, 100 car loads of them, are now
in Savanah securely stored away at
the warehouse of Floyd & Co. They
are stored there for a peanut oil mill
at Charleston and the next time they
are seen in Savannah they won't be
recognized, even by the darkies who
cannot resist the temptation to make
close friends of just a few that “hap-
pen to spill out” when they are being
shifted from wagon to warehouse and
back again. They will, upon their re-
turn to Savannah, be peanut oil, cow
feed, meal, lard substitutes and fats
of various kinds, and they furnish the
oil in many of the edibles that will ap-
pear in tempting forms on the tables
of many families.
The great majority of the peanuts
now being stored here were grown in
the “hog section” of Georgia, with a
few from north Florida and eastern
Alabama. South Georgia is now be-
ing extensively planted in peanuts,
which are used both for feeding hogs
and for market, and it is an industry
that promises great growth in the
State, where cotton has reigned king
for generations.
Peanuts is a rotating crop for cot-
ton, the peanuts furnishing to the soil
the nitrogen that the cotton needs,
and many of the farmers are plant-
ing large areas in Spanish peanuts.
The larger, white peanuts are planted
solely for parching, as they do not
contain nearly as much oil as the
smaller Spanish nuts and are not so
valuable commercially.
When it is known that a ton of pea-
nuts brings $125 and that the aver-
age yield per acre is a ton and a half,
peanuts present a formidable rival to
cotton and threaten to race for first
place in the districts where they
thrive. Peanut industries are spring-
ing up all over the South and the oil
from them is being used in place of
the cottonseed oil in many edibles.
There are peanut industries in North
Carolina and Virginia, and other
States, the nearest to Savannah being
the one in Charleston for which the
many tons of peanuts are stored here.
4 The Charleston company has not the
| sufficient space to store the unused
nuts, and as space is cleared the stor-
ed up supply here will be drawn up-
on.—Savannah Morning News.
Fair Play for the Y. M. C. A.
Some of the attacks on the war
record of the Y. M. C. A. are simply
unpardonable. They indicate, says
Leslie’s Weekly, a sinister, deliberate
and systematic purpose to discredit
one of the finest philanthropic organ-
izations the world has ever seen.
It would be amazing, indeed, if
there were not some failures, some
mistakes, registered in a work of such
magnitude as that undertaken by the
Y. M. C. A. The government has
been attacked time and again for its
mistakes, but no one thinks that the
management of our training camps
was altogether bad or denies that the
government made good in the war in
spite of blunders. So the assailants
of the Y. M. C. A. must admit, if they
are fair, that its activities are worthy
of highest praise.
The Y. M. C. A. is paying the pen-
alty of the nation’s unpreparedness.
It agreed to take over for the govern-
ment a great task which the govern-
ment itself was not equipped to per-
form. This called for a quick and tre-
mendous expansion of its forces, the
expenditure of vast sums for equip-
ment and supplies, and the organiza-
tion of its work on broader lines than
had been dreamed of. The mistakes
made were largely the result of lack
of tact, experience or efficiency among
a very small number of its thousands
of workers.
The Y. M. C. A. is a Christian, but
wholly non-sectarian, institution,
which has served Protestant, Roman
Catholic and Jew without distinction.
It heartily joined in the appeal of the
seven war organizations for a com-
mon fund, when, if there had been
anything selfish or sectarian about it,
it would have gone before the coun-
try alone. The Y. M. C. A. furnished
the large background for the great
popular response then made.
The Y. M. C. A. is not a mushroom
organization sprung up for the dura-
tion of the war. It had so proven its
usefulness that when the war broke
out the government naturally turned
to it to perform a great mission that
has had much to do with keeping up
the morale of our fighting forces.
Compared with the large results the
blunders are insignificant. The Y. M.
C. A. is here to stay. It faces a per-
iod of increasing usefulness in time
of peace.
“Don’t you think the new min-
ister offers up a good prayer?” was
asked of the old colored janitor, by
one of the deacons.
“Ah mos’ suttinly does, boss. Why
dat man axed de Lawd fo’ things dat
ge ofder preacher nebbuh knew he
ad!
Visitor in England—Personal-
ly, I don’t think much of the Ameri-
can method of spelling.
Pretty Hostess—Why not?
Visitor—Well, take parlour, for in-
stance. Having “uw” in it makes all
the difference in the world.
PAPER MAKERS DID THEIR PART
IN WINNING WAR.
“Paper helped to win the war,” says
Harvey E. Platt, secretary and treas-
urer of the J. L. N. Smyth company,
of New York city, elected president of
the National Trade Association of the
United States in New York a short
time ago, at one of the most largely
attended conventions of the associa-
tion that has ever taken place.
“There is no shortage of paper
now,” says Mr. Platt, commenting on
the outlook with the return of peace.
“In reviewing the winning of the war
and the part taken in it by American
industry, the paper industry should
not be overlooked.
“It is not generally known by the
public just how large a part our in-
dustry had in the movements which
brought about the successful termina-
tion of hostilities. Paper, as a rule,
is regarded by the average man as
simply a means to the end, without
taking into consideration the gigantic
forces necessary to produce it. Let
me give you some facts:
“When the call came for lumber-
jacks to cross the ocean and cut timber
for use in building barracks, piers,
hospitals, and every kind of wooden
structure necessary for our troops,
the camps of our wood pulp manufac-
turers responded with the best they
had, with no thought of what hard-
ships would follow when the shortage
of wood was felt in the great paper-
making centers.
“Our volunteers and conscript men
were recorded, chosen and dispatched
to cantonments as quickly as they
were chiefly because the paper manu-
facturers and merchants set aside all
other orders and gave the right of
way to government requirements. As
the war progressed and we became
more and more active, war demands
for paper increased by leaps and
bounds, and not once, to the best of
my knowledge, was one shipment of
food or munitions delayed on account
of the paper industry lagging in sup-
plying its part.
“And don’t forget this, that paper
was used in this war for purposes
never thought of before. Shells, al-
ways heretofore packed in oiled cot-
ton, were wrapped in paraffined pa-
pers. Paper surgical dressings, pneu-
monia jackets, and many other arti-
cles were found available through sci-
entific research of chemically treated
papers. Foodstuffs, instead of being
shipped in tin, were packed in water-
proofed paper containers, as this was
found to be more sanitary and easier
to store, to say nothing of the ton-
nage saved in shipping—tonnage sav-
ed when every pound counted.
“Our tissue mills were called upon
to furnish unheard of amounts of
light weight absorbent sheets of pa-
per, which our troops used as towel-
ing and gun wipes, and other purposes
which added to the cleanliness and
health of our boys. Probably it will
give you a better idea and a clearer
conception of the magnitude of our in-
dustry when I tell you paper manu-
facturers are the fifth largest users
of coal and the seventh largest users
of transportation in the United States.
Our consumption of chemicals is enor-
mous and when some of them were
found to be needed in war materials,
they were turned over for that use.
“Of course, all those things could
not be done without curtailing domes-
tic consumption, and that was done.
The public, through campaigns car-
ried on by the paper merchants and
this division of the war industries
board, was apprised of the siuation
and it was asked to save paper, in or-
der that fuel, labor and transporta-
tion might be released for war pur-
poses.
“How nobly the public responded is
a matter of history and the fulfilment
of the nation’s purpose is partially
due to the agencies which were releas-
ed by the manufacturers, merchants
and consumers of paper.
“But the war is now over. All the
restrictions and regulations have been
removed. We are all operating on a
peace time basis, ‘business as usual,’
and glad to be back where we can
again supply our customers with what
they want when they want it. Paper
was one war need which demanded no
special machinery, no great economic
change. Over night we went to war
work, and over night we changed
back.
“The paper mills of the nation are
now making paper for the Americans
to use to best advantage. It is ho
longer necessary to conserve through
a sense of patriotic duty. Issuers of
catalogues, buyers of printing, purch-
asers of sanitary wrapped food pro-
ducts and other commodities may now
all demand the best in paper, and feel
entitled to get what they want.”
Victory Depended Once on Gasoline.
Sixty days before the armistice was
signed and when the situation on the
western front had reached a critical
stage Marshal Foch cabled the fuel
administration: “If you don’t keep
up your petroleum shipments we shall
lose the war.”
This and other messages from Al-
lied leaders were made public by the
Fuel Administration to show how de-
liveries of American gasoline in quan-
tities on the western front alone pre-
vented alterations in the plans of
campaign which forced the Central
Powers to an armistice.”
Another message received October
1 said in part:
“Senator Berenger writes ‘highest
command informs him that position
has become so serious that change in
military operations will have to be
contemplated unless increased deliv-
eries of gasoline at front are made
possible.” ”
Observance by the American people
of the “gasolineless-Sunday” request,
enabled Senator Berenger later to de-
clare “petroleum will have played as
great a part in the victory as food it-
self, and will have proved the life-
blood of victory.”
The Fuel Administration said that
the Earl of Curzon on Novmber 21
estimated that the United States fur-
nished 80 per cent. of the Allied pe-
troleum requirements, and other Al-
Bed leaders sent messages of thanks.
—Ex.
——“Robbie can’t you play with-
out making all that noise?”
. “No, mamma, I can’t. You see,
we're playin’ picnic, and a storm has
come up and I’m the thunder?”
Poorhouse Inmates are Mostly Single.
Harrisburg, Pa.—Most of the in-
mates of Pennsylvania poor houses
have never been married and almost
half of the population over 50 years
old has to rely upon its own earnings
according to the report prepared tor
the Legislature by the Old Age Pen-
sion commission, which has been at
work for the last year.
The commission was headed by
James H. Maurer, former member of
the Legislature from Reading and in-
vestigated histories of over 6,000 per-
sons more than 50 years of age. They
included 3,405 inmates of almshouses,
2,170 inmates of fraternal homes for
the aged, and 500 recipients of private
relief.
Of the almshouse inmates 40 per
cent. had never been married; 39 per
cent. had lost their husbands or wives
through death; 17 per cent. were mar-
ried and four per cent. were divorced
and separated.
In benevolent and paternal homes it
was found that 30 per cent. of the in-
mates were single, 58 per cent. had
been separated from their husbands
or wives by death, and only eight per
cent. were married.
The inmates of the institutions in-
dicated were examined as to their age,
time of admission, nativity, family
connections, physical conditions, oc-
cupations, cause of disability, if any;
weekly income, and similar iniorma-
tion. In addition to the institutional
dependents 4,500 non-dependent aged
were also interviewed.
The investigation brings out that
aside from the aged dependents in in-
stitutions, forty-three per cent. of the
population 50 years old or over has
no other support except its own earn-
ings. ‘i'hirty-eight per cent. of the
non-dependent aged claim to have
property; 62 per cent. did not.
It is learned that in the majority of
the industries the greater number of
workers are disabled before they are
50, and their earnings then decrease
in direct proportion to their disability.
Of railroad workers, more than half
are impaired before they are 50.
Scores of thousands of Pennsylva-
nians after they have passed the prime
of life must change their occupation-
tions because of sickness and old age.
In what is called “the pauper
group’ of those examined in the com-
mission’s investigations, more than 65
per cent. had no children living; and
in the cases of those who had children,
90 per cent. of these children were un-
able to help their parents.
In the non-dependent group of aged
55 per cent. of those examined were
married and living together, 38.2 had
lost their wives or husbands through
death, and 5.4 were single. Only ten
per cent. of this group had no chil-
dren living, in startling contrast to
the 65 per cent. of the pauper group.
Of the paupers 90 per cent. had
never possessed property. Of the
non-dependents 62 per cent. had never
possessed property.
While 64 per cent. of the non-de-
pendents were in fair physical health,
the percentage among paupers in pri-
vate institutions was only 36 per cent.
and in the alms houses only 12.3 per
cent.
The unfortunate condition of those
aged who are in alms houses and oth-
er homes is not, the Old Age Pension
commission says, entirely due to their
personal shortcomings. lxcellent rec-
ommendations were given to alms
house inmates by former employees.
Thirty per cent. had worked more
than ten years with one employer. Of
the service rendered by the group as
a whole 15 per cent. was reported as
excellent, 80 per cent. as satisfactory
and only four and a half per cent. bad.
Reasons given for leaving employ-
ment were: Sickness, 40 per cent.;
old age, 15 per cent.; shut-downs, etec.,
25 per cent.; no reason, 20 per cent.
After making an exhaustive study
of the general pension problem, and
analyzing all insurance methods in
use in this country and Europe, the
report of the Old Age Pension com-
mission presents arguments for and
against all propositions. All existing
pension schemes used by municipali-
ties, railroads, fraternities, union la-
bor organizations and Common-
wealths, were looked into, in order to
ascertain the extent of the present
means employed in Pennsylvania to
care for the aged. It was found that
all the different pension propositions
in the State care for less than 10,000
aged persons. Pension systems are in
operation by twenty industrial estab-
lishments, ten railroads and three
cities—Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and
Scranton. ;
Expect Another Comet.
A spectacle in the sideral heavens
of surpassing brilliancy may be ex-
pected the coming spring if the pre-
dictions of cometary observers are
verified. Not since the great comet
of 1858, which aroused a vast deal of
intrest, has an appearance in the sky
equalled what is confidently expected
in this spring of 1919. The return of
Halley’s comet in 1910, which had
anxiously been awaited, did not come
up to what had been predicted, and
expected, and since 1882 there has not
been any specially brilliant comets
seen. The newcomer is described as
a gigantic comet, outclassing in size
and brilliancy all those seen in mod-
ern times. It will be a thing of glory
in the northwestern sky throughout
the spring, astronomers say, probably
visible for three months, being at its
brightest in June. It is now speed-
ing toward the sun at an approximate
rate of 1,134,246 miles a day.
King George’s Son Dies.
Prince John, the youngest son of
King George, died Saturday night of
last week, in London.
He was born at Sandringham, July
12, 1905. An official bulletin says:
“Prince John, who since infancy
had suffered from epilepsy, which
lately had become more frequent and
severe, passed away in his sleep fol-
lowing an attack at 5:30 p. m. Satur-
day”
The Prince was possessed of exu-
berant spirits. He was the prime fa-
vorite of all classes and the idol of
the servants and tenants at Windsor.
It is said he was the favorite brother
of Princess Mary, who loved to romp
with him.
——For high class job work come
to the “Watchman” office.
FOR AND ABOUT WOMEN.
DAILY THOUGHT.
Errands of love are easy to run;
Saying sweet words is the dearest fun.
Let's see, you and I, just for today,
How many kind things we can do and say
—Jewels.
Boudoir caps of lace are in many
established styles and in such new
form as the Alsace bow effect and a
shaped band type that fits down close-
ly over the forehead and ears.
An elaborate afternoon dress re-
cently seen in a collection of spring
models was of black satin embroid-
ered in peacock blue. This smart
dress was a draped model extremely
long, narrow as to foot width, but
with bouffant hip effect.
Mannish waistcoats and other vest
effects are featured in many spring
suits, particularly those of strictly
tailored styles.
Navy serge and naturai-colored
shantung is the strikingly smart fab-
ric combination presented by Paquin
in a new street suit.
Modish circular capes, more than
generous in cut, with military or
draped collars, persist in their at-
tempt for popular acceptance as a
spring wrap fashion.
For summer the smart separate
skirt is being-developed in such wash
aterigls as pique, cotton, poplin and
inen.
Many spring suit models show the
rather extensive use of embroidery.
As in most cases this embroidery is
in the same color as the suit fabric,
there is no offensive elaborateness in
the general effect. Where contrast-
ing colors are employed very careful
selection of color contrast and harmo-
ny results in a pleasing effect.
THE FORMAL DINNER.
it consists of at least six courses.
More than ten courses smacks of
ostentation.
Remove completely the traces of
each course before a following course
is served.
The honored woman guest sits at
the right of the host and the most
important man present at the right of
the hostess.
It’s a safe bet, writes a correspond-
ent of the New York Sun, that three-
fourths of the men who wear high
turndown collars wear holes through
their shirts near the yoke and neck.
Patching does little good and shows.
The only way is to cut the torn part
out. The simplicity of this method is
only exceeded by its value to millions
of shirt owners.
If the material is not too weak, this
should double the wear of the shirt.
Carefully rip the neckband from
the front of the shirt as far as the
yoke, then rip the yoke from the front,
the armhole, and down the side to the
gusset.
Cut straight across the part worn
through by the collar, from the neck
to the armhole. Cut from the bottom
of the armhole as much in depth as
has been cut from the top, slope the
neck for the collar so that it will be
shaped as before, and then sew the
front in place, beginning with the
neckband. Then sew the voke, sleeves
and side seam. .
When French or turned back cuffs
are frayed, patch them up neatly with
a needle by hand, reverse the cuffs on
the sleeve and they will wear as good
as new.
Onion, One of Housewife’s First Aids.
“Eat onions in May,
No doctor you'll pay.”
So runs the old couplet, and yet,
easily grown as are these vegetables
in every home garden, still they are
not appreciated or used by the major-
ity of housewives as frequently as
they should be.
In fact, from the large Italian and
Spanish varieties to the fiery little
red ones they have no superior (if, in-
deed, an equal) among vegetables for
general usefulness.
In nutritive value alone it is esti-
mated that one onion is equal to three
potatoes of equal size; and, besides
being a very wholesome food, it has
the merit of always being in season
from the tiny spring ones (sometimes
called “rareripes”) to the larger bulbs
sold during the winter. :
Still further recommendations for
their constant use are the facts that
they may be eaten either cooked or
raw; and, while they form an appe-
tizing dish by themselves, they also
add a delicious flavor to almost any
dish to which they are added.
What, for instance, would the soup
be without the savory onion? And
although in a creditable hash bread
may take the place of potatoes and
dripping “piece out” a scanty supply
of meat, for the onion no substitute
has yet been found.
Then too, a small quantity vastly
improves any kind of dressing for fish
or poultry; a slice or two cooked with
tomatoes will take away that strong
taste disliked by so many persons,
while its place in all stews, pot roasts
or beef a la mode cannot be gainsaid.
Again, onions may be served raw
in salads; they are a delightful ac-
companiment to baked or boiled beans,
and diced and sauted with potatoes
make at least one variation of this
vegetable. They give an appetizing
flavor to both fish and clam chowder,
and served boiled with a cream or
Hollandaise sauce they are as fitly as-
sociated with roast duck as is celery
with turkey.
Aside, however, from the aid that
they are to the cuisine, their medici-
nal value is also high. In fact, they
may be almost designated as a “cure-
all,” like some of the patent medicines
that we see so largely advertised.
Partaken of during the days of late
spring or early summer, they are par-
ticularly helpful to the bilious condi-
tion, while for clearing up the com-
plexion they are unequaled. They
are also extremely beneficial to the
digestive organs, excellent in liver
and kidney diseases, very healing in
lung troubles and the ‘children of
those nationalities who eat of them
largely noticeably escape all troubles
with worms—those baneful enemies
of childhood.
Housewives who suffer from insom-
nia should give these same onions a
very careful trial, as may be amply
testified by the drowsiness one often
feels after partaking of them.
somo,
FARM NOTES.
—Exports of oats from the United
States were usually only a very few
million bushels yearly before the war,
but in the fiscal years beginning in
1914 they have averaged about 100,-
000,000 bushels.
—All animals require plenty of
good, pure water. This is especially
true of the milking cow, as water
constitutes more than three-fourths of
the volume of milk. Stale or impure
water is distasteful to the cow and she
will not drink enough of it for maxi-
mum milk production.
—The condition of fall honey plants
this year, is somewhat lower than a
year ago. About 37 pounds of sur-
plus honey per colony of bees was the
estimated average yield by September
1, this year, the Bureau of Crop Es-
timates announces. This compares
with 36 pounds to the same month in
1917 and 46 pounds in 1916.
—The foliage of stone fruits, as
cherry, plum and peach, is on the
whole quite tender, and the arsenical
sprays should be employed with cau-
tion. Arsenate of lead is least likely
to do harm, though more than two ap-
plications especially to peach, may
cause shotholing and dropping of
leaves, and burning of fruit.
—Although spraying is one of the
most expensive of orchard operations,
the value of the crop is so greatly in-.
creased thereby that it is a compara-
tively small investment, the expense
amounting to only a fraction of the
returns directly due to the practice.
Orchard spraying is, in fact, an ex-
ceedingly cheap form of insurance.
—Land is usually pastured several
years after the small growth is dis-
posed of before it is stumped. When
land is kept in pasture for several
years before any stumps are removed,
many of the small stumps will entire-
ly decay and the fibrous roots of the
larger ones will have become so weak-
ened by decay that it is much easier
to remove them.
—If the grapevines have not yet
been pruned, be sure to do so before
the buds start. On mild winter days
the cut ends will “bleed” some, but
that does not matter. Gather up and
burn the trimmings, so as to destroy
any insects and disease germs infest-
ing them. Tie the pruned arms to the
wire supports, and then this job will
be ut of the way before the spring
rush.
—Farmers should not lose the les-
son of last spring with reference to
the importance of testing seed corn.
Corn that to all outward appearances
was sound proved to be worthless for
seed. The farmer should never take
a chance with seed corn, but should
thoroughly test every ear intended
for seed. The sand and sawdust tray
any the rag-doll testers give good re-
sults.
—For the wheat crop of 1917 the
farmers of this country received an
average price of $2.05 per bushel; for
1916, $1.44; for 1915, 98 cents; 1914,
99 cents; 1913, 79 cents, as estimat-
ed by the Bureau of Crop Estimates.
In the past year, State averages (ex-
cluding States producing less than
1,000,000 bushels) ranged from $1.83
per bushel in Utah to $2.66 in South
Carolina.
—A 25 per cent. increase in the
production of hay, in order to main-
tain and if possible to increase the
supply of live stock, is recommended
by the United States Department of
Agriculture. The production of hay
in the United States in 1918 was only
90,000,000 tons, as compared with 98,-
000,000 in 1917, and 111,000,000 in
1916. This falling off was due to un-
favorable seasons and to plowing up
meadow lands for other crops.
—The use of at least a limited
amount of bedding for beef cattle is
advisable, but the extravagant use of
straw, coarse hays, etec., for this pur-
pose should be discouraged. All such
roughages that are to be used for
bedding, either for fattening or breed-
ing animals should first be offered
them in the hay rack and that which
is refused used for bedding. If sto-
ver is fed the stalks, while somewhat
difficult to handle, make satisfactory
bedding material and should be used
for this purpose rather than burned
or otherwise disposed of.
—European people have learned to
like American dairy products. Ex-
ports of condensed milk to Europe
rose from 16,000,000 pounds in 1914
to 530,000,000 pounds in 1918, and
there were notable increases in ex-
ports of other dairy products. Much
of this may be due to abnormal war
demands, but the United States De-
partment of Agriculture believes that
there is both an opportunity and a
tendency to expand in this direction
over pre-war requirements. A nor-
mal increase in dairying in this coun-
try, the Department thinks, is fully
justified, provided there is the neces-
sary increase in feed crops.
—To guard against an unfavorable
termination or the development of
one of its numerous complications,
horses upon showing evidences of in-
fluenza should be relieved Tmmediate-
ly from work. Most careful nursing
is also essential for horses affected
with influenza, and likewise, skilled
medical treatment, which can be best
assured by placing affected animals
under the care of a qualified veteri-
narian. The spread of the infection
should be prevented by segregating
the diseased animals and thoroughly
cleaning and disinfecting the contam-
inated premises. Plenty of good ven-
tilation is also highly desirable.
—If dairy cows published a news-
paper a large part of the society col-
umn would be taken up at this time
with notices of members of noted dai-
ry families leaving their homes in the
North to spend the winter in the $un-
ny South. The fact is that thousands
of dairy cattle are being shipped into
Southern States this winter, and it is
probable that they will like their new
homes so well that they will not re-
turn. A campaign is being conducted
in Florida with the object of placing
at least one dairy cow on every farm
in the State, and if possible two or
three. The Orange county agent has
preached this policy to his country for
the past few months, and as a result,
in one week recently three carlbads
of pure-bred Holstein and Jersey cat-
tle were brought into the locality
from the North. One car, however,
was made up of South Carolina stock.
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