FARM NOTES. 4 Bellefonte, Pa., October 29, 1926. PENN’A FARMERS HAVE POOR YEAR. Resume of Agricultural Products in State—Prices Low on Most Articles. A Washington dispatch says: “While long-range forecasters who predicted at the beginning of 1926 that it would be a year without a summer were made ridiculous by sub- sequent developments, they hit the mark when they forecasted a master- ial shrinkage in the out-turn of farms. “Farmers of Pennsylvania, it is dis- closed by a survey just completed by the Federal Department of Agricul- ture, had one of the poorest years in history. All staple crops have shrunk well below last year’s harvests, and they are also under the average for the past ten years. The situation is made doubly serious by reason of the fact that the smaller yields are aec- companied by a price range that is well under that of a year ago. Unless there is an improvement in farm prices, Keystone farmers’ gross in- come this year will be many millions of dollars under the figure for 1926 according to the Department of Agri- culture. “Figures on estimated production are regarded as fairly disclosing the course of agriculture in Pennsylvania during the present year. It is claim- ed by crop experts that they will not be increased, but there is a possibil- ity of still further reductions. An early frost in the Keystone State would work havoc with maturing corn, most of which is late, having been re- tarded by a protracted hot period when the crop was coming into tassel. “With fair luck, Pennsylvania farm- ers will this year harvest about 61- 600,000 bushels of corn, which will be 11,000,000 bushels less than the 1925 harvest and 4,000,000 bushels less than the average for the past ten years. “Oats, with an estimated yield of 36,530,000 bushels, will be 4,000,000 bushels under last year’s figure and about a million bushels short of the ten-year average. A very heavy decline in tobacco production is also reported. The out- put is not expected to be in excess of 45,690,000 pounds, which is 12,000,000 pounds less than the 1925 harvest and 13,000,000 peunds below the average of the past ten years. ‘There will be a shrinkage of 2,000- 000 bushels of potatoes under the out- put of last year, and this year’s yield will fall that amount short of the ten- vear average production. “Other staple crops are declared to have suffered materially by excessive heat followed by execssive rainfall. There is a possibility that early frost may nip various crops which have not vet matured. “The bright spot in the Pennsyl- vania situation is the banner yields of fruit. The State will turn out nearly 16,000,000 bushels of apples, an increase of nearly 9,000,000 bush- els over last year and 7,000,000 bush- els in execss of the ten- year average. A yield of peaches of 2,182,000 bush- els compares with last year’s output of 600,000 bushels and a ten year average production of 1,266,000 buzh- els. It is estimated that for the entire country the harvests this year will be about 3 per cent. under those of last vear. This loss is aggravated by farm prices ranging about 15 per cent. lower than were paid farmers in 1925. “When decreased yields are added to lower exchange value, it is found that the income of agriculture in this coumrtry for this year will be two or three billion dollars under the income received last year. This will result in the wiping out of gains made by Keystone farmers in the heart-break- ing reconstruction period that con- fronted the industry following the de- flation of farm prices in 1920, accord- ing to the federal government.” eee ff eee eee Sees Probable Increase in Pennsyl- vania’s Taxes. The cost of maintaining the State government in Pennsylvania, now at the highest point in its history, is scheduled to go higher. An analysis by the Department of Commerce at Washington, D. C., of the State’s financial transactions during the last eight years shows that the trend of taxes has been ever upward, and a study of commitments which for all practical purposes constitute fixed charges against the State’s revenues indicates that for several years to come the State’s expenditures will continue to mount. Heavy bonds flotations in recent years have made it necessary to pro- vide a large sum annually to meet in- terest charges and to amortize the debt. Money received from bonds has gone entirely into road construction, and this again has resulted in largely increasing the cost of road mainte- nance, which increases in the precise ratio that the improved mileage ad- vances. Although Pennsylvania is compelled to collect in taxes each year more than $111,000,000, it so far has man- aged to do it without laying its hands on general property, which is exempt from levy in this State. In every other State, however, excepting North Carolina, general property is com- pelled to defray nearly half of the cost of maintaining the State govern- ment. The vast sum which is required to keep the State government function- ing is levied against corporations, automobile owners and the estates of decedents. Special property taxes, paid by corporations, amounted to $29,181,000 last year, and inheritance taxes brought into the treasury $12- 712,000. The second source of largest income was the automobile. Its owner@ paid $21,160,000 as license fees and an ad- gitional $7,059,000 as taxes on motor uel, —Choice of a dairy breed largely depends upon the kind of dairy pro- duct most favorably marketed. —Successful flockmasters find that putting the ram and ewes in good con- dition before the mating season pays big dividends on the new lamb crop. Feed and exercise are the only secrets. —Market the best apples. With one and one-half bushels of apples per person in Pennsylvania there should be a good market for all good apples. Tat is less than one-half an apple a ay. —Squashes, pumpkins, and sweet potatoes need a dry location but also need to have a temperature between 50 and 60 degrees. Shelves in the furnace cellar are good places to store these vegetables. —Birds often can be attracted to your lawn for winter feeding provided you commence early enough in the fall. Begin to feed regularly and even the birds which migrate each year will be tempted to remain around your place longer than usual. —Dairy husbandry and agricultural economics are the most popular courses among the students of the Pennsylvania State College agricul- tural school. Of the 595 in the school there are 84 students majoring in the former and 80 in the latter course. Thirty-four of the 195 freshmen have enrolled in farm forestry. —The fourth Pennsylvania State Standard Production Poultry show is scheduled for Thursday, Friday, and Saturday of this week, at State Col- lege. The show is being staged by the Pennsylvania State College poultry department and the Penn State Poul- try club. Nine different varieties are entered. L. M. Black, formerly a member of the Penn State staff and now poultry extension specialist of Rutgers Uni- versity, is the judge. Silver loving cups, special rosette ribbons, subserip- tions to poultry journals, poultry equipment and cash prizes are the awards. —DMore than two hundred potato growers, machinery men, and market- ing “specialists attended the Potato Field day at the Pennsylvania State College last Wednesday. The farm- ers represented 725 acres of potatoes. Despite the rainy weather which spoiled the plans for the day, there was a demonstration of potato ma- chinery, comparison of the horse and the tractor as motive power in dig- ging, a report of the seed source tests on the experiment station plots, and discussions of all phases of potato growing. Orie of the interesting events of the day was the demonstra- tion of potato diggers operated by power take-off on tractors. Miles Horst, secretary of the Penn. sylvania Potato Grower's Association, presented the service and opportuni- ties of the organization to the grow- ers. Short talks were given by Dean R. L. Watts and Vice-Dean R. G. Bressler of the School of Agriculture, E. L. Nixon, well-known potato exten- sion specialist, was surrounded all day by groups of growers eager for the latest information on proper cultural methods. —It is a far ery from Penn State to India but that is the distance 14 red and white chickens are traveling. In response to a call from the Mis- sion Farm at Etah, India, seven sin- gle comb white leghorns from the Pennsylvania State College and seven single club Rhode Island reds furnish- ed by Henry Robinson, Seelyville, Pennsylvania, were sent to the Fav East. This is the second time that the Ia- dians have obtained chickens from the Nittany institution. Six years ago 41 White Leghorns went to the Mission farm. After a 60-day voyage by auto- mobile, train, ship and finally on cam- els and the backs of men all the birds arrived at their destination in good condition. During the next season, the mission distributed nearly three thousand eggs at a cost of a few cents a dozen. The hatches were &xceptionally high, the average being 90 per cent. Some hatches of 100 per cent. were report- ed. An illustration of the effective- ness of the dissemination of the stock is found in a report of the 1926 poul- try show recently held in Etah. Of the 1012 birds exhibited, more than three hundred were straight progeny of the Penn State Leghorns. —Except for one age, the propor- tion of horses and mules decreased steadily with each age from the nine- year- olds down to last year’s colts, which made up only 2.8 per cent. of the horse population on these farms. If colts were produced just for re- placement of the farm horse supply, the largest numbers of horses and mules would occur in the youngest age group and gradually decrease with the older groups. Instead, the exact reverse is true. . The number of horses of working ages on farms are no doubt influenced to some extent by those sold from the farms, but those below working age should indicate how far replacement needs are being ‘supplied. Those un- der three years, which include the colt crops of the past three years, made up 10.6 per cent. of the total. If it is assumed that horses average ten years of productive work, those under three years should make up 30 per cent. the total, if no allowance is made for sales from the farms. To maintain the present horse sup- ply with the present rate of breeding would require that the period of use- fulness be extended from 10 years to 28.3 years, or that the horses attain an average age of 31.3 years without becoming pensioners. Approximately half of the farms studied used trac- tors. However, there were no appre- ciable difference in ages of horses on farms using tractors as compared with those using horses only for power. Of all horses and mules included, slightly more than a fifth, or 21.9 per cent. were under five years of age; a third, or 33.3 per cent., were five years and under ten; 28.2 per cent. were ten years and under fifteen; 12.6 per cent., fifteen years and under twenty, and 4 per cent. were twenty years or older. These figures check quite closely with HOW TO When the correcy letters are pluc indicated by a number, which refers t Thus No. 1 under the celumn headed fill the white spaces up to under “vertical” black one below. tionary words, except defines 8 word which Proper names. Horizontal. 1—To confine 4—A tramp 7—Haunt 8—Conjun~tion 10—Tap‘ulum (chem, symbol) l1—Abstract (abbr.) I183—Evening (poetic) 14—Measure of weight §6—Grecian goddess of dawn 17—To plunge 18—A popular dance 20—Short sleeps 24—George (abbr.) 25—Goad to action 28—Large, closely populated place 80—Barter 31—A rank 23—A falsifier 34—Tidy 36—A sharp sound 36—A whirlpool $8—The traces of harness 40—Badly 41—Percolate slowly 43—Preterite of come 44—Defraud 46—To plunder 48—Prohibit 60—The yarn for the woof 63—A barrier for water 64—A stout, solid stick 56—Chum b8—Flightless bird of New Zealand b9—Indefinite article : 60—Note of diatonic scale 61—Whole quantity 62—-Native of Arabia 63—-A johnny cake Solution will appear in next issue, a similar study made by the federal Department of Agriculture about a year ago. England to Lead the World in Air. America will soon be outstripped by European nations in the race for the mastery of the air. England is forging rapidly to the front in this respect and will soon be leading the world. This is the belief of Captain Otto Heinen, famous German Zeppelin commander and supervising construc- tor of the ill fated dirigible Shenan- doah, which crashed a year ago in a storm in the foothills south of Cam- bridge, Ohio. In an effort to awaken American business men to the need for nation- wide cooperation in pushing America to the front in the aeronautic field, Captain Heinen is visiting many of the principal cities of the nation and addressing luncheon and booster clubs. In proof of his statement that this nation is lagging behind, the Zeppe- lin expert said that Germany is now beginning to construct rigid airships and that England now has under con- struction two 5,000,000 cubic feet air- ships of the Shenandoah type. In spite of several recent accidents, air transportation is the safest mode of travel known to man today he be- lieves. Since his release from Navy connections, Captain Heinen has set out to put his own beliefs to a practi- cal test. He is the founder of the re- cently organized Aero Corporation of America, a New Jersey corporation, organized to furnish daily airship transportation between New York City and Philadelphia. He announced that the corporation would contract for construction a dir- igible of 65,000 cubic feet dimension, capable of carrying 45 passengers and a crew. “In a few years if the American business-men and man on the street awaken to possibilities,” he said, “fleets of bassenger-carrying airships of all classes will be winging across the continent in regular air lanes. much as it is being done in Europe today.” Centre-Road Hog Menace to Traffic on Highways. One of the greatest menaces to traffic on the streets, the boulevards and ¢ven on the country highways is the slow driver cruising down the cen- ter of the thoroughfare. That this js the case attested by hundreds of let- ters to the American Automobile as- sociation. “The rules of the road” require all slow moving traffic—whether passeng- er automobile, truck or bus—to keep to the right near the curb. This rule is violated every day, and all the time. Everywhere may be found the slow traveler, creeping down the middle of the driveway, blocking traffic and actually endangering the lives of others. “Can’t you do anything about the man who has the ‘middle of the road complex?” ” is the complaint of so ; many letters reaching us that it looks as if the road hog will never learn. SOLVE A CROSS.-WORD PUZZLE spell words both vertieally and horizontally, the first black square to the right, and a number No letters go in the black spaces. terms and obsolete forms are indicated in the definitions, CROSS-WORD PUZZLE No. 9. (©, 1926, Western Newspaper Union.) | tract of the waste liquor known as ed In the white spaces this puzzle will The first letter In each word is | 0 the definition listed below the pusszle. “horizontal” defines a word which will will fill the white squares to the next All words used are dice initials, technical Abbreviations, slang, The Pennsylvania Railroad Is the Greatest. Transportation System in the World ts total mileage of all tracks is twenty-five thousand six hundred fifty-two miles. It moves, on an average, six thousand seven hundred trains every day. Of these three thousand eight hundred are passenger trains, carrying one-sixth of all the travelers by rail in the United States, Returning from a long journey the Pennsylvanian feels a glow of pride, a sense of home-coming and security, when he sees a car bearing the name ‘‘Penn- sylvania.’’ Railroads are the arteries through which flows, in ever increasing volume, the vast commerce of the Uni- { ted States. : Every business man is vitally interested in the 2 maintenance of railroad credit, so that there may be 1 4 efficient operation. The First National Bank BELLEFONTE, PA. Vertical, 1—Stinging insect 2—A hostelry 8—A small speck 4—To have 6b—Wicked 6—Sash worn by women of Japan 7—Supervisor of college students 9—To decay 10—Also 12—To box 16—A small horse 16—Self 19—The lowest tide in the lunap month 21—Preposition 22—A deep pit 23—To defraud 25—To walk with a conceited strut 26—KEquality 27—Aloft 29—To be in need of 380—A hollow or depression 32—A line of light 33—Preterite of light 36—A tree 87—A vulgar person who pretends superiority 39—A large body of water 40—Central state (abbr.) 42—Philippine islands (abbr.) 43—An edible shellfish 44—A male sheep 45—To cut short 48—A color 61—A large snake 53—A small amount 556—To strike gently 56—A shallow vessel 57—A drink The Restlessness of Eels. 47—Gleoorny 49—1Idiot 52—To prohibit In order to prevent eels from de- parting in shoals from the coasts of Denmark and emigrating in deep wa- ter, the government has arranged for the erection of a submarine cable be- tween the mainland and an adjacent island, along which there will be fifty electric lights. Each night the lamps will burn and the luminous barrier is expected to keep the eels, who travel ! only at night, from making the jour- ney. Exportation of eelskins is an important industry in Denmark. Eels simply refuse to “stay put.” An eel in a tank at the London Zoo- logical Gardens became dissatisfied, escaped, and took up his quarters in another one of the tanks some dis- tance away. The keepers replaced him, but again the eel got out. Two or three times he did this, passing in- tervening tanks and always getting into the same one. He showed so plainly and persistently that he knew what he wanted that he was finally given his way. His method of escape was very in- teresting. Unable to squirm up head first, he turned round and threw his tail over the edge of the tank. Once he had a secure hold, he swung his body up and over. The “slippery eel” is not only slippery and elusive, but clever. . Eels can live for surprisingly long periods out of water, and often 20 overland from stream to stream. One writer reports having seen a large number of eels leave the water to- gether and leisurely eat insects on the | shore, | A pea-patch is said to be a regular garden of Eden for eels, though they doubtless like the moisture and slugs found with peas better than they do the vegetable itself. Eels spawn only in salt water, and never at a depth less than 1,000 me- tres. But the eggs hatch at or near the ocean's surface, carried there by their natural buoyancy. Thus the eel’s ex- tensive travels begin even before he sees the light of day. Eels go around the world penztrating to almost every little muddy pond in the interior of the country.—Our Dumb Animals. Sr ———————— Rare Sugar Discovered. By a chemical process known as ac- etylation, the bureau of Standards has discovered a very rare sugar known as gentiabiose, which, although it is considered of no commercial value at this time, it is expected to prove valu- able to industrial chemists in working out problems in the manufacturing of corn sugar. The new form of sugar is an ex- hydrol which results from the man- ufacture of crystalline corn sugar or dextrose, and has caused apprehension in the sugar industry because of its quantity and undesirable influence on the duration of the manufacturing process and sugar yield. The name gentiabiose was given to the by-pro- duct because up to this time the gen- tian rot had been known as the only source. —Subscribe for the Watchman. { Lyon & Company EEE CERO CE CE SRR CNR RR SIE ) Any Valuables? | 2 LE TONEY g 5 : ou, no doubt, have valuables 2 : and would not care to lose them. 5 5 Give them protection against : : loss from fire and theft. 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Significant historical Pennsylvania newspapers