RRR Demmi Bellefonte, Pa., February 22, 1924. sues More Soft Wood Trees Are Now Being Planted Tre people of the United States con- sume twice as much softwood lumber as they do hardwood lumber, according to the New York state college of for- estry at Syracuse university. The soft- woods are cut off more rapidly because of their better adaptability to man’s needs and their lighter weight. The pines, hemlocks and spruces float easily and this facilitates trans- portation to the mills. They are hauled by bobsleds or sent by flume or chute to a stream or lake and floated to the mills. Maples, beeches and birches will very often sink, which ne- cessitates artificial means of transpor- tation such as motortrucks, tractors and railroads, or expensive rafting. Even where such costly transport is required for softwoods the greater value of the product has made lumber- ing profitable. But with hardwood this type of logging is too expensive except where tre hardwoods are especially fine and the demand is good with a near market, The dwindling supply of softwood timber is making it more profitable to plant evergreen trees than ever before, says the college. Today many hard- wood forests and farm woodlots are being converted to the more valuable softwoods. It often pays on such wood- lots to girdle unmerchantable hard- wood trees so the undergrowth of soft- woods that have been artificially plant- ed or naturally reseeded will not be re- tarded by the shade of their older hardwoods. By cutting the bark around the hardwood trees, their foli- age will disappear and the trees will die, thus allowing enough light to fall upon the young softwoods to give them tkeir natural rate of growth. In the average forest such elimination of hardwoods allows the coniferous or softwood species to take on additional volume of about one-fourth cord annu- ally for twenty-five to thirty years, de- pending upon their age. This increase in growth will offset the expense of girdling and keep the forest on a prof- itable basis, Grand Canyon Supplied With Water by Train “Water, water, everywhere, nor any drop to drink.” This famous expres- sion of Coleridge describes quite. accu- rately the situation at Grand Canyon, where an abundance of clear water may be seen rushing down the Colo- rado river in the depths of the canyon, but beyond reach of visitors and resi- dents of the village itself. All the water used at the canyon is hauled in by the Santa Fe, and is ob- tained from Jack Smit and Flagstaff springs, which are about nineteen miles north of Flagstaff, Ariz. This cold spring water has its origin in the snows at the top of the San Francisco peaks, and is absolutely free from con- tamination. It is carried from the springs to a 50,000,000-gallon reservoir about seven miles north of Flagstaff, whence it is conveyed by pipe lines to the station. Steel tank cars of 10,000- gallon capacity each are used in trans- porting the water from Flagstaff to the canyon, tbe ordinary needs requir- ing ten carloads of water daily. This means that the Santa Fe hauls approximately 100,000 gallons of fresh spring water from Flagstaff to Grand Canyon, a distance of 99 miles, each day. Numerous investigations and surveys have been conducted with a view to utilizing the clear water so abundantly available at the bottom of the canyon, but so far no feasible method of doing this has been found.—Santa Fe Maga- zine. Roads Built 2,000 Years The Roman empire was intersected by roads, constructed principally be- tween the Second and Fourth centuries after Christ. These highways varied in width from eight to fifteen feet, and were almost universally built in straight lines without regard to grade, probably because the use of beasts of burden as the chief means of transport made the preservation of the level an affair of minor importance. Soldiers, slaves and criminals were employed in the construction of these highways, the durability of which is shown by the fact that, in some cases, they have sustained the traffic of 2,000 years without material injury. The Roman forum is said to have been the point of convergence of 24 roads, which, with branches, had a to- tal length of 52,904 Roman miles. The Romans are said to have learned the art of road building from the Car- thaginlans.—Adventure Magazine. Black and Green Tea The difference lies in the process of curing. All varieties of the plant can be made into either green or black tea, but some varieties are better suited for making one or the other. In the manufacture of green tea the freshly- picked young and tender leaves are gubjected to live steam or heated alr, ‘or are placed in contact with a hot surface whick destroys the oxidizing properties in the leaf. After rolling and drying, the cured product gives a green or greenish yellow infusion. In the manufacture of black tea, the ox- idizing process is done during the with- ering, which lasts from 12 to 24 hours, and Is continued after the withered leaf is rolled by allowing the teas to oxidize or ferment from two to six hours before they are finally dried. ER Dicyeles Great Peril to Pedestrians in Denmark Denmark is a flat country, and therefore an incentive to bicycling. As soon as children are out of swaddling clothes in Denmark they are lashed to the handlebars of their parents’ bicy- cles, or strapped in rumble seats, and taken on long trips. Thus bicycling becomes second nature to the Danes. Danish cities encourage the use of bicycles by constructing special bicycle paths along the roadside so that the bicyclists may not be annoyed by traf- fic. This gives the bicyclists a false sense of security, so that the motorist in Copentagen and other Danish towns is constantly being confronted by a serene bicyclist who sails with blissful recklessness directly into the motor- car’s path. The Danes are confirmed wabblers while bicycling, due to their habit of guiding the bicycles with only one hand, the other being used to lead dogs, hold large bundles, convey open umbrellas, valises or other impedi- menta, or to restrain the tendency of skirts to rise to the riders’ waists. The inventor who evolves a contrivance for holding down the skirts of lady bicy- clists should reap a fortune in Copen- hagen alone, Everybody in Copenhagen rides to work on a bicycle every morning, so that the person who ventures on the streets afoot early in the morning or late in the afternoon is constantly in peril of being knocked down and hav- ing his features enmeshed in a sprock- et wheel or tangled in a welter of wire spokes.—K. L. Roberts, in Saturday YWvening Post. George Meredith Ordered All Manuscripts Burned George Meredith placed no value whatsoever on the manuscripts of his novels. Once when he said so to Miss Nichol she answered teasingly that it was mock modesty on his part to say such a thing. To this Meredith merely gave her an instruction: to make a bonfire of manuscripts at the end of the garden! “And he was set on it, too,” she told us. “But,” she pleaded, “can’t I have some of them as keepsakes?” “Yes,” he answered carelessly, “take whichever you like.” She selected several of the precious documents—single sheets on which he had written out his short poems. Miss Nichol led Mr. Brooks and me down in- to the vegetable garden, and there, a black little heap of ashes, lay all that remained of manuscripts worth who knows how much !—From “Forty Years | S | in My Boookshop,” by Walter Spencer. Unkind They were very much in love, but at last came the day when they had a bitter quarrel and they parted, each resolved never to see the other again as long as they lived. Years passed, and they had almost forgotten that little love affair, when one night they came face to face with each other at a dance. The man felt rather embarrasc