==
Bellefonte, Pa., August 15, 1924,
BRUSH, OUR NATIVE VALE.
The following splendid verse song
of memories of Brush Valley was
“written by one of her most distin-
“guished sons: C. C. Ziegler Esq., sec-
‘retary and treasurer of the American
Brake Co., at St. Louis, Mo. It will
-be read at the reunion of the Ziegler,
:Moyer and other klans which is to be
-held at Rebersburg on Friday of next
week, August 22nd, and is so excep-
tional in its theme, expression and lo-
.cal color that we publish it feeling
sure of its general interest.—Ed.
The preciousness and power of Holy Grail
I re-discover in my native vale.
‘That mystic chalice, sung by bards of old,
Was fabled Christus’ sacred blood to hold,
And by its potency, so warranted,
“To cure all human ills and raise the dead,
With everlasting mountains rimmed
around.
Our valley-chalice holds within its bound
A charm of beauty and a hallowed spell
No other spot on earth can parallel.
For us who know it there is greater worth
‘Than golden harvests of the fertile earth
‘Or all the panorama of the year:
“The star of our nativity shines here;
‘Here aré -6ur kindred; here our fathers
strong
And. mothers kind fulfilled their
we aslong;
Their lonest strivings and their trust in
God
Outlive the things that mingle with the
clod;
In the old-fashioned goodness of their lives
Our valley’s glory ever more survives.
labors
My years do now somewhat exceed the
span
Of three-score-ten allotted unto man;
And so, under the privilege of age,
d may in reminiscences engage.
Imprimis—o’er all landmarks towering
high
Stood the old church, for which I often
: sigh.
How noble and melodious was its bell!
(Joe Weber best knew how to ring it
well).
Far out—as far as Wolfe's Store—you
could hear 5
Its wind-borne billowy music, faint but
clear.
Sometimes in mournful tones its tolling
spoke
Of ended life—for every year a stroke—
And listening farmers tally kept to know
Whose death was signaled; was it so-
and-so?
When came that day of days—Fourth of
July—
Soon as the sun lit up the eastern sky
We boys to church and school-house hied
away
And rang their bells
° glorious day.
The little school-bells dingingly replied
To the big church-bell’'s donging dignified,
And now and then in one united clang
They emphasized the righteous theme they
sang.
They sang and rang for liberty amain—
God grant their ringing has not been in
vain!
throughout the
O men and brethren! are we very sure
Democracy is now at last secure?
I tell you, Nay! The wily tyrant keeps
Setting his crafty traps and never sleeps.
And freedom dare not sleep until the beast
In human nature, gradually decreased,
Dwindles and shrinks at last to nothing-
mt ‘néss.
And how long will that take? I cannot
guess.
Within that dear old church by old and
young
Those soothing pennyroyal
sung
That like the gentle movement of a swing
Peace and contentment to the soul did
bring. ;
tunes were
Die alte Lieder losst uns b’halte:—
“Ein feste Burg ist unser Gott”,
“Wer nur den lieben Gott lasst walte,”
-Un “Sei getreu bis in dem Tod ;”
“Ich weiss dass mein Erloser lebet,”
“Mein Gott, das Herze bring ich dir,”—
So Lieder, O ihr Singer, webet
Zum harrliche Kranz melodisch mir,
Mei Kindheit’s Karrich is abgerisse,
Die alte Schtimme sin verhallt,
Doch darech mei Seel noch immer fliesse
Die liewe Lieder—nie net alt.
Schtimmt ei’, ihr Schweschtere un {ihr
Bruder!
En alter Sundaag noch e'mol!
Un singt die gute alte Lieder,
So heilig un so Sabatvoll.
And there my mother—faithful and devout
In Christian worship joined, year in year
out;
She never questioned what the preacher
said:
Wichtig it was—weighty,
dread.
And in that simple faith she lived and
died,
Obscure on earth—hereafter glorified.
To her and all good mothers, still unsung,
I pay this tribute in our native tongue!—
momentous,
Es gebt en Scheeheit vun de Seel,
En lieblichi Gerechtig Keit,
Das sich veschennert mit de Zeit
Un is vum wahre Gott'n Dheel.
Sel is die Hauptsach; in d’'r Dhat
Sel is es eenschtig Ding ’as b’schteht
‘Wann Aerd un Himmel mol vergeht,
Un sel hot aa’ die Mammi g’hat.
: dn ihrem gleene Finger waar
~ Meh Weisheit vun de rechte Sart
’As manncher Witzkop finne ward
In all de Bicher gross un rahr.
Thank God for my dear Father!
was he;
A Christian; radical as he could be;
A foe to every form of tyranny;
His freedom-loving soul persists in me,
Stern
One man, who loomed large to my boy-
hood’s eye,
With landmarks I am moved to classify.
At the east end of town a blacksmith true
Old Melchior Bierly—there the bellows
blew,
The anvil smote as only he could smite,
And filled the souls of steeds with Schreck-
lichkeit.
Of rugged mould, his visage fierce and
grim,
The wildest horse no terrors had for him!
The fractious horse, brought forward to
be shod,
Soon found that Melchior was no mollycod ;
Soon as he glimpsed the blacksmith’s ter-
rible eye
He knew he surely would be shod or die,
And when he heard the man’s stentorian
“Whoa!” E 3
He shook in every limb, it scared him so.
One time—I don’t know when—the rumor
spread ; Nu ¢
That Melchior, king of blacksmith’s all,
was dead.
I did not comprehend—still hardly can—
How death could overcome that iron man.
When I was here a dozen years ago. .
I saw an exquisite arboreal show
At Stovers—at the valley’s Eastern gate—-
Which shines in memory’s sanctum comnse-
crate.
The laurel, rhododendron was in bloom
And filled the air with subtle sweet per-
fume;
The birds made music and the sky was
blue,
And one special tree stood out in view—
A deep green-leaved and vigorous young
pine,
Its shape so perfect that it seemed divine.
Is it still there? I hope again to see
That fine unrivalled model of a tree;
Its cooling shade I want to feel once more
And breathe its healing fragrance as of
yore.
Or is it gone?—cut down by some dumb
runt?
I'll take it as a personal affront:
Upon his head anathemas I'll heap
Until he sinks to the infernal deep.
Of poverty in trees let us beware:
They bring us treasures from the sea of
air;
Without our forests,
obtrude—
Sans rain, sans springs, sans streams, sans
fish, sans food.
(If on this subject you are doubting me,
Ask one who knows exactly: E. A. Z.)
wants would soon
The past grows vivid—memories multiply,
Yet must I overpass them with a sigh,
Lest our historian veices the reproach
That I on his domain too much encroach,
Returning therefore to the here and now,
It is agreeably surprising how
My native town improves its heritage
And onward marches with the present uge.
The present Age! when these brief words
are spoken
There rises, like the specter of the Brocken
A giant form in which we easily can
Cognize the features of collective man.
We think of Mars, the god we most abhor,
And of his master work, the great World
War—
A work so self-demolishing and blind
That makes us lose our faith in human
kind.
Yet the same giant who in rage destroys,
Builds up again by way of equipoise;
He pours with one hand poison down the
throat
And with the other gives the antidote!
One day he takes the war-path, scoffs at
law,
And like a roaring lion “eats folks raw;”
The next he preaches, meek as he can be,
The doctrines of the man of Galilee.
Whence this anomaly? This Gordian knot
Can be untied in one way only—what ?
There’s nothing can explain incongruous
man
As thoroughly as Evolution can.
For Evolution is dame Nature's way,
Forever true, no matter what we say;
Without a break—I’d have you apprehend
Without beginning and without end.
A health to Science! I do here aver
She'll prove at last the world’s deliverer.
Alas, not yet! By strong emotions swayed
Faction ’gainst faction will be long ar-
rayed;
Long will it be ere truth will gain the day
And error’s clamering minions melt away.
Men are gregarious and long will keep
The unthinking qualities of herded sheep.
In education is our fervent hope—
You know the well-preserved old saw of
Pope:
“Tis education forms the common mind;
Just as the twig is bent the tree’s in-
clined.”
And may our valley in the front rank be
In sowing wide the truths that make us
free! x
What do you think of Einstein's theory—
So much discussed—of Relativity ?
| I wonder if the Prohibitionists,
Hearing his name, don’t double up their
fists:
Ein Stein, you know, has such a bibulous
sound—
We seem to hear
round.
“Gesundheit” going
It is a privilege alive to be
These pregnant times, and measurably
free;
To watch the drama of the world unfold,
The work of art and science to behold,
The atom split—a thing we scarce be-
lieved—
And transmutation finally achieved.
The chemist daily makes new syntheses
Quite easily from common things like
these:
Dimethylaminostyrilpyridine
And Ketotetrahydronaphthalene.
Why soon he'll bridge the gap—(a deed
titanic)—
Between the inorganic and organic.
In aviation many a thrilling sight
Have we beheld of men like birds in flight.
I've seen a racing aeroplane outdo
The very swiftest bird that ever flew:
Two hundred sixty miles per hour—a speed
Some other bird-man will no doubt exceed.
Out in “the wooly West,” in old St. Lou,
I saw an aeroplane, high in the blue,
Doing a brand new stunt in advertising
That was as pretty as it was surprising.
The bird-man caused his engine to emit
A thick white smoke and, swiftly trailing
it
In ribbons long behind him, soon displayed
Huge characters which into words he made,
And presto! there appeared to every eye
The two words, “LUCKY STRIKE,”
across the sky.
Business ambition never higher went—
Making a sign-board of the firmament!
Though storms and quakes the populace
affright,
Though wars may devastate and plagues
may blight,
Man by his wits will overcome them all,—
He rises stronger after every fall.
One question still remains: What shall
be done
When earth’s petroleum and coal are gene?
What though our black and faithful sery-
ant coal
In sweltering toil shall waste away his
soul,
And the best. part of all received from
‘Our wise successors, knowing well each
' to know.
law,
From falling rivers heat and light will
draw, -
And, where no streams obligingly do run,
Will hitch their engines to the rolling sun,
Or, following Nature to her secret source,
‘Will tap at will the vast atomic force.
When we consider well how multiplied
Our blessings are, there is no room for
pride.
All that we are and have has come about
Through complex forces by a devious
route;
But the main traits of individual man
Have been bequeathed by family and clan;
them— ;
Crowning the ‘cake of custom” like a gem,
Forming the keystone of the arch success—
Is the supreme desire for righteousness.
Our learning is in vain till that we learn,
In that the core of wisdom we discern,—
The old-fashioned goodness of our native
vale,
To us more precious than the Holy Grail.
CHARLES CALVIN ZIEGLER.’
NO SUCH THING AS “DOG DAYS”
AND “EQUINOXIAL STORMS.”
Dog days bright and clear
Indicate a good year.
But when accompanied by rain
We hope for better times in vain.
But what is a Dog-day, and why?
That’s what the weather man wants
He says there’s no such
thing. It is merely one of the many
fallacies or remnants of superstitions '
that have come down by word of!
mouth from generation to generation. |
According to Old-timers, we're right
in the midst of dog days now. But
the question stil arises concerning the
origin of the term “dog days.” An
inspection of the weatherman’s book
on Weather Folklore reveals nothing
but the above rhyme and a note in
parenthesis—July 3 to August 11.
But George W. Bliss, the forecaster of
the U. S. Weather Bureau in Phila-
delphia, who says when it’s going to
rain and all that, declares that the !
rhyme, from the standpoint of truth,
is very far off.
NO RAIN, EVERYTHING BURNS.
“Because,” says Mr Bliss, “if we
don’t have rain during this season of
the year, everything burns out, and
causes serious conditions among the
agriculturists, the mills, and anything
that ‘has to do with the weather. So
far as an official recognizance goes,
dog days are not on the list. There
are some of the more common terms
that people talk of, which we accept,
but not dog days.
“For instance, we recognize Indian
summer—rather it is a semi-official
term. With the first cold rain there
comes a turning point in the seasons.
After the rain there is usually a sud-
den warmth, and a hazy atmosphere.
But the haziness is not a condition of
the weather at all—it is caused by’
grass and fields being burned all over
the country for the sake of cultiva- |
ion.
“Personally—but not officially—I
have an idea that the term dog days
is applied to intense summer heat.
People believe that dogs go mad, or
have rabies on account of the heat.
But that is not so. During the sum-
mer people fail to give their dogs
enough water to drink, The animals
go about with their tongues hanging
out looking for water.
people have an inherent fear of dogs
in hot days, they cry “mad dog!” at
the first sign of such an animal.
“I don’t believe any more dogs have |
rabies in the hot weather than at any |
other time. Rabies is a disease caus-
ed by a germ—and a contagious dis-
ease, and is not caused by heat in par-
ticular. People don’t know what rab-
ies is, or they wouldn’t think that
every dog they see has the disease.
“This year the summer months have '
been pretty warm, and the rainfall ;
light all through July. Of course we |
had a wet May and June. Though
through July there were some heavy
local rainfalls. But the State’s aver-
age of rainfall is below normal this
year.
“Is that due to the fact that it didn’t
rain on St. Swithin’s day this year?”
“Well, St. Swithins hasn’t much to
do with the weather so far as I’m con-
cerned,” he declared loftily. “As a
matter of fact, I don’t think it did
rain on the 15th of July, commonly
known as St. Swithin’s day. But I
looked that up a short time ago, and
took an estimate of 40 St. Swithin’s
days, and nineteen times when it rain-
ed on that day it didn’t even rain the
day afterward. So that’s just another
bit of superstition.
“ALL FOOLISHNESS.”
“Like the equinoxial storms. Some
people swear by them. In fact, about
a year ago a magazine carried an ar-
ticle that the equinoxial storms were
one thing in the weather upon which
one could depend. It’s all foolishness.
The Autumnal Equinox, caused on
September 21, 22 and 23, when the
sun crosses the equator moving south-
ward, is said to create storms. That
is not true.
“But many persons believe it. We
used to have hundreds of persons call-
ing us up at that time, asking which
way the wind was blowing. From the
direction of the wind it was believed
that a forecast could be made of the
coming winter. That is, if the wind
came from the north, it would be a
cold winter; from the south, a warm
one, and so on.
“The breaking up of the summer
heat is apt to cause storms, but not
the Autumnal equinox. The storm is
apt to precede or follow the equinox,
and if it depended upon the equinox
it would come at a regular time, and
not vacillate.
“There are plenty of such supersti-
tions—the weather folk-lore is full of
it. And dog days are just another
such superstition of which we hear
plenty, but do not recognize.”
A ———————— A bi mn,
——There are 2,700,000 employees
on the pay rolls of the Federal and lo-
cal governments in the United States,
and 700,000 former employees draw-
ing pensions. Every group of twelve
citizens is supporting one citizen in
government capacity.
i
i
——The average annual damage to
livestock and game is estimated to be
$50 for each coyote and bobcat and
$1,000 for each wolf and mountain
And because !
lion.
Worms Found in Vast
Numbers on Glaciers
The snow worm is not familiar to
the general public. These little crea-
tures have been called snow eels and
they are frequently found on the snow-
clad slopes of the ranges of mountains
In Oregon and Washington.
According to the well-known ichthy-
ologist, Dr. E. W. Gudger, they are
not eels, but true worms. They are
scarcely more than a half-inch long
and only one-sixty-fourth of an inch in
diameter and are jet black In color.
Since they are sometimes found In
vast numbers upon beds of snow, they
present a rather startling spectacle.
Upon making a study of the matter
Dr. Gudger found that the best ac-
count of the phenomenon was given in
1899 by Dr. J. P. Moore of the Uni-
versity of Pennsylvania, from speci-
mens collected by H. G. Bryant upon
a glacier in Alaska, The notes of
the latter quoted in Natural History
sontains this Interesting passage:
“During the month of June and the
, early part of July, while the snow is
, comparatively dry, they appear about
! 4 o'clock in the afternoon on the sur-
face and move sluggishly about, re-’
‘maining during the night; but when
the sun appears in the morning they
again burrow into the snow. As show-
ing their sensitiveness to heat I fre-
quently observed their active wriggling
as soon as a piece of snow containing
them was taken in the hand.”—Detroit
News.
Origin of Expression
of “Mind Ps and Qs”
No very satisfactory explanation
has ever been given for the origin of
the expression, “Mind your Ps and
Qs.” Some say the admonition orig-
inally referred to children learning
the alphabet, or to printers setting
type, from the fact that “p” and “q”
have a similar appearance and are
easily confused, especially in a font
of type.
An odd origin of the expression is
dlven ag follows: In the old-time bar-
rooms it was customary to do a credit
business. In the accounts “P” stood
for pints and “Q” for quarts. Nat-
urally when it came to settling up it
was advisable for the customer to
“mind his Ps and Qs.”
Still another explanation is ven
tured. In France during the reign of
{ Louis XIV, huge wigs were worn and
curtsies and bows were made with
great formality. In making the bow
a short step was taken forward.
Hence dancing masters would tell
their pupils to mind their “pieds and
queues,” “pied” being the French
word for foot and being pronounced
almost like our letter *“p."—Detroit
News.
Flour Production
There are approximately 265 flom
mills in Palestine ranging from the
most primitive kind to some with the
‘most modern installations, according
' to consular advices to the Department
{ of Commerce, Of these 265, it is es-
timated that 135 are of primitive con-
| struction driven by man, animal, and
130 are operated by steam or oil en-
gines, There has been an Increasing
tendency toward the adoption of mod-
ern methods and the equipment of
many mills with simple machinery
during the past few years has so op-
| erated to reduce the cost of grinding
flour that the Arab population which
| was accustomed to rely upon the sim-
ple grinding stone manipulated by
hand or by animal, is being induced
to transport wheat for comparatively
long distances in order to avail them-
gelves of the power mills.
Got Off Easy
The town bum had been arrested
on suspicion, as he always was when
a minor crime had been committed in
Hickville. On the most recént occa-
sion Zeke was defended by a young
lawyer who was making his maiden
speech, The case was lost and Zeke
was sentenced to ten days and fined
ten dollars. “Thanks, Mr. Judge,”
gald Zeke with a relieved countenance
and better courtroom presence than
was usual. “Thank me,” bellowed the
judge, suspecting sarcasm. “What do
you thank me for?” But Zeke was In-
nocent of witticism. “I sure thought
my character and that boy's pleadin’
would hang me.”
One of the Meanest
The mean man ate a good meal at
4 restaurant and then, when he had
finished, dropped a half dollar on the
floor.
“Walter,” he said, as he paid his
oil], “I just dropped two half dollars.
Find them for me, will you?”
The walter disappeared under the
table and in a short time emerged very
red In the face.
“I've found one of them, sir,” he
said,
“Thanks,” said the man as he pock-
eted the coin and rose. “When you
find the other keep it for yourself—
tip, you know."—Pittsburgh Chron-
fcle-Telegraph,
Palatable “Obj;c-*”
It was the “object” drawin: lesson
when the boys are supposed t.. bring
gome article—a hammer, a top, it Hox,
or what not—with them to schoui to!
serve as model.
One boy presented himself at the
master’s desk with the tearful an-
nouncement, “Please, sir, I've swal-
lowed my object.”
“Swallowed it!” cried the master,
a alarm. “Whatever was it?”
“Please, sir,” with a gulp, “a
banana.”
FOR AND ABOUT WOMEN.
DAILY THOUGHT.
No real life is measured by days or
months or years, but by deeds of helpful-
ness to those in meed and of Christian
kindness to all. .
White shoes - and white stockings
have been divorced, says a Paris cor-
FARM NOTES.
—If only a small quantity of silage
is left for the fattening of cattle, re-
duce the amount they are getting and
| feed more hay. Try to make the si-
| lage last until the end of the feeding
i period.
—Farm work in Pennsylvania is
respondent. But, like. many social | from ten days to two weeks late in the
leaders in similar cases, neither has | southern counties, three weeks late
lost popularity, although they are'in the middle belt, and a month be-
seeking new companionship. That is | hind the schedule in the north tier
an important fact, taking on deeper
significance from the continued an-
nouncement in Paris that skirts this
fall are to be shorter—much shorter.
Paris mentions 14 to 15 ‘inches as
the proper hiatus between the hem
and the floor. On a moderate-sized
purposes the pattern of a Scotch kilt.
It is more than doubtful, however,
will adopt these lengths or lack of
length. “Them as has ’em wears
em,” may be true of diamonds, but
when it comes to “legs” them “as has”
pretty ones do not always show them
—in public.
But if skirts are as short as kilts,
they will not have the voluminous
qualities of those garments. The Par-
is couture now is in the throes of
{ showing new fall models to the trade
.and the majority of these, according
to reports from abroad, are as tight
‘as a sausage casing. Social buds this
‘fall may seem about to burst out of
' their clothes, but they will not, for
‘both the buds and the clothes are
proof against surprise except when
| the bills for the latter are received.
| Waist lines of the new fall models
. shown prove that the more prominent
| French designers have either return-
ed to the natural waist line or waist
i lines are placed very low. Few wom-
i en, however, care whether their waist
i lines are up or down so that they are
j hot greater around.
Colors, so far as frocks are concern-
ed, promise to take on slightly more
| somber hues, but this does not apply
i to hosiery. Practically every smart
i shop will have on sale at least 100 '
shades of stockings and shoemakers
must keep pace.
‘There are several things that can
happen to your face in summer, and
none of them is very nice. Sunburn
is sunburn—painful, colorful, and not
too good for the skin. Tan is a boom-
erang. You may fancy it for awhile.
But it has a terrible back-kick of ret-
ribution. Along about fall, when it
begins to fade out in a slow yellow
way, youll wish you’d never been so
flippant with it. Freckles— oh, well,
what’s the use of talking about freck-
les? Personally, I’ve never felt very
much upset by an odd freckle on a
turned-up nose.
average girl considers freckles a
death-blow to romance, and I agree
that they are not a decoration to be
: encouraged in great numbers, writes
Hazel Rawson Cades in the Woman's
Home Companion. They're like dan-
.delions. One in the early spring
makes you want to write a poem, but
| repeated ad infinitum, they spoil the
‘ lawn.
|
that I know is an application of witch-
"hazel before you go out. This hardens
whether American fashion leaders |
The best protection against sunburn i
counties.
—Late blight, one of the most de-
, structive potato diseases, has made
| its appearance in Pennsylvania. The
first occurrence in the State was not-
| ed recently in a field near Johnstown
iin Cambria county.
The season thus far, with its abun-
i dance of moisture and cool weather,
has been ideal for the spread of the
disease. It is probably present in
many localities of the State at the
| present time. Plant pathologists at
| The Pennsylvania State College are
urging continuous and efficient spray-
ing, especially in wet weather, as the
. one means of warding off a destruc-
| tive epidemic. More than 23,000 acres
were sprayed last year with an aver-
age increased yield per acre of 58
bushels. About 4,000 farmers in the
State found spraying the mose effect-
ive means of lowering their cost of
production and thus increasing their
profits from “spuds” in 1923.
—DMore than 2,000 pounds of tree
seed were sown in the large nurseries
operated by the Department of For-
ests and Waters and four co-operative
» nurseries located at State institutions,
it has been announced. A total of
1,173 pounds of seed were sown in
State nurseries at State institutions.
| The Mont Alto nursery, located in
| Franklin county, ranks first with 542
pounds of planted seed. The co-op-
_erative nursery at the western peni-
| tentiary ranks second, with = 495
‘pounds. The other nurseries are
Clearfield with 456 pounds; Hunting-
don reformatory, with 365 pounds and
Greenwood with 172 pounds.
John W. Keller, who has charge of
the nursery and tree planting work of
! the department states that this is the
; largest quantity of seed sown in the
nurseries operated by the State in any
one spring. White pine, pitch pine,
red pine, Scotch pine, Norway spruce,
‘and larch are the principal kinds of
. seed planted. It is estimated that this
amount of seed will produce more
! than 18,000,000 small trees that will
be planted on the idle lands in all
| parts of the State.
—Pennsylvania apple growers esti-
mate their production this year will
| average 34 per cent. of a normal or
full crop, according to a statement is-
sued by L. H. Wible, director of the
Bureau of Statistics.
; the corresponding date, the orchard
prospects were 66 per cent. of normal.
Early varieties fared best this
spring having bloomed and “set” be-
fore the excessive moisture conditions
{ brought on the serious scab infesta-
tion that occurred early in June. On
July 1 there were prospects of a 56
: per cent. normal ciop of early varie-
| ties, as compared with prospects of 67
! per cent. last year.
The average for all orchards re-
| porting estimates for Adams county
water power and that the remaining
the skin and makes it less vulnerable | Was 39 per cent.; Franklin, 26 per
ito the sun’s rays. Life-savers and | CéNt» and York, 48 per cent. The Ju-
other people whose skins are exposed | LV Prospects of the 50 orchards in that
| continuously to the sun often use vin- | Séction, comprising the principal com-
legar in the same way, but it has a mercial apple counties of the State,
tendency to tan as well as harden the | 2YeTage 33 per cent. as compared with
i skin; so I don’t recommend it.
I hurry to add also, that witch-ha-
zel is not a defense against tan. Peo-
ple who know say that if you don’t
i want to be tanned it’s well to treat
! your skin first to a layer of cream and
| then to a layer of powder. This pro-
i tects the skin also against dirt, and is
a good preparatory measure when you |
! motor or train-travel.
Theoretically, of course, there
shouldn’t be any sunburn cures be-
cause we should protect our skins so
that they never come to need. But as
a matter of fact, we just don’t do it.
So most of us spend the latter part of
the summer running about with a red
or peeling nose and a bottle of reme-
dy under one arm.
The good old potato is a handy thing
to have around in the first stages of
sunburn. Did you know that? Just
any potato will do, provided it’s raw.
Cut it lengthwise and draw its cool
wet surface slowly over the sunburn-
ed skin. It’s refreshing, and it helps
to take out the Reins, Don’t try us-
ing a poultice, though, or leaving the
potato on till it dries. The taking off
would be painful.
Don’t buy the ground meat that you
find piled on big steak plates in the
local meat shops,” is set forth in a
warning to the housewife from direc-
tor Foust, of the Bureau of Foods and
Chemistry. He added “select a piece
of meat to be ground, and see that
the butcher grinds it in your presence.
Take no chances.” :
During the quarter of a century of
activity in food control in the State,
director Foust says he has never en-
countered a more iniquitous practice
than that of the occasional, unprinci-
pled butcher who adds dope to waste
meat. He said that the meat scraps
are sometimes treated with chemicals
to make them appear as fresh meat.
The scraps, he said, sometimes taint-
ed and turned black, are chopped up,
dusted with sulphites and run through
a grinder by some irresponsible butch-
ers. The sulphites cause the meat to
take on the bright red color of fresh
butchering.
There is no beverage in hot weather
more refreshing than properly made
iced tea. The common method of
making an extra strong infusion of
hot tea, on the theory that the melt-
ing ice will dilute the drink to the
right strength, is unsatisfactory.
Through experimentation it has
been ascertained that three minutes is
the average proper length of time to
infuse tea. The aroma and the caf-
feine, for which the tea is used, are
then developed to their best point, and
thare is a minimum of tannin. After
three minutes the amount of tannin
increases, but only a trace more of
caffeine is available. Bring water to
a boil; pour it on the requisite amount
of tea; allow it to remain covered for
three minutes; then decant or strain
into another receptacle. The spent
leaves should never be used again.
68 per cent. normal crop prospects in
July of last year.
Varieties reported below the aver-
age condition of 34 per cent. in the
! orchards covered were York Imperial,
i Ben Davis, Baldwin, and Northern
‘Spy. The first two mentioned were
| particularly hard hit by the unusually
prolonged wet weather, which pre-
vented proper fertilization, fostered
an unusually heavy outbreak of scab,
and caused a heavy June “drop.” The
weather was so unfavorable that
spraying was virtually out of the
question as an effective check.
Staymens and Johnathans were in
slightly better condition than the av-
erage run of the orchards, while
Grimes and Rome Beauty varieties
were only a trifle lower than the pros-
pects in July 1928. Greenings and
Ganos were two varieties indicating
a better outlook than one year ago.
—Many Pennsylvania farmers could
increase both feeding value and the
market value of their hay from $3.00
to $6.00 per ton by harvesting it at
the proper stage of maturity and giv-
ing more attention to curing it in the
field, according to George A. Stuart,
of the Bureau of Markets, Pennsylva-
nia Department of Agriculture.
Investigations show that the farm-
er who cuts his timothy when well ad-
vanced in bloom secures 200 pounds
more digestible matter per acre than
the farmer who cuts when the seeds
are in the rough stage and 350 pounds
more than the farmer who cuts when
the seeds are ripe.
Cutting hay at that stage of ma-
turity which will give the greater
amount of digestible matter is ex-
tremely important because hay is one
of the most valuable crops produced
in Pennsylvania, Mr. Stuart points
out. In 1922 farmers of this State
produced 4,585,000 tons of hay with
an estimated value of $69,245,000.
The production was not quite so
great in 1923 due to drought yet the
total value of the crop was placed at
$56,507,000. {
Cutting hay late in the day rather
than in the morning is also suggested
by Stuart as a means of improving its
quality. If the hay is cut early in the
day and exposed to the direct rays of
the sun, the leaves die first and be-
come brittle so that many break off
and are lost in the handling. When
the hay is cut late in the day and al-
lowed to lay over night, the leaves dry
less quickly and remain tough the
next day so that less loss results in
handling. Leaves act as a pump,
drawing water from the stems. When
kept fresh, even though the plant is
cut off, leaves continue to do_ this.
When the plants are cut early in the
day, leaves dry quickly and do not
draw the moisture from the stems.
When cut early in the day, a ted-
der should be used from two to six
hours after mowing depending upon
the sun’s heat. When cut late in the
i day, the tedding should be done the
next morning after the dew is off.