EWE
ee
Brora tpn
Bellefonte, Pa., January 25, 1929.
TEN YEARS OF CARING FOR
OUR MAIMED HEROES.
Ten years ago the great war end-
ed. What have we done since—what
remains to be done—for those who
paid for the war in the first instance
with blinded eyes, lungs burned by
war gases, severed legs and arms, and
the precious years of youth and op-
portunty sacrificed for their coun-
try?
It must be understood in the first
place that the problems growing out
of the “human cost” of the war were
not those that could be solved by
mere dollars-and-cents settlements.
They were and are problems involv-
ing the re-making of bodies and
minds, the rehabilitation of human
lives, the relief and alleviation of
human pain and distress.
It is because of a general realiza-
tion by the American people that the
physical suffering, lost lives and
hopes, defeated aspirations and am-
bitions of many hundreds of thou-
sands cof young men can never be
fully paid for, that our lawmakers
have been much more generous in the
treatment of veterans than have those
of any other nation.
No amount of money that the Gov-
ernment might pay could possibly
“compensate” many of the veterans
for their injuries. There was, for in-
stance, an eighteen-year-old Michi-
gan boy who enlisted in the navy
during the war and whose eyes,
hands, and hearing all were destroy-
ed by an explosion. Later, an attack
of so-called “sleeping sickness” par-
tially paralyzed him.
Whether the Government paid that
boy $1 a month or $1,000 it could not,
with more money, restore the incen-
tive to live. And so the Government
through its Veterans’ Bureau, gave to
him something of much higher value
by way of compensation. It fulfilled
an ambition that he had possessed be-
fore he entered his country’s service.
But first it sent him to a special
school for the blind, where he learned
to shave himself, dress himself, and
even to operate a specially construct-
ed typewriter with his wrists. Then
it added a high school education, and,
finally, it sent him to university and
law school.
Seven years after the explosion,
this young, sightless, crippled veter-
an realized the ambition of his boy-
hood; he graduated from law school,
prepared for the practice of the pro-
fession to which he had aspired.
N phase of the Veterans’ Bureau
work has been more necessary, more
worth while, than this rebuilding of
men’s lives.
Six hundred million dollars the |
Government has spent in rehabilitat- :
ing men whose earning power was |
impaired by injury or disease. That!
sum has paid for the education of !
nearly 130,000 legless, armless, sight-
less, and otherwise crippled or physi-
cally handicapped men, to the point
where they are capable of self-sup-,
port. Such men will not become
charges upon the community. The!
Government has restored something |
as precious as life itself; their self- |
confidence and self-respect. |
Hundreds of blind men have been
trained for the occupations they des-
ignated. One crippled veteran, giv-
en vocational training in poultry rais-
ing and bee culture, not only earned
a living on a scven-acre tract of land |
in Colorado, but in a single year made |
his labor produce a gross income es- |
timated at $5000. |
Altogether, 40,000 schools or other |
facilities were used for the training
of disabled veterans for 400 occupa-
tions. No work of our Government !
has been more inspiring, mere prof- |
itable than this, both from the stand-
point of the public welfare and the |
interests of the men whose lives have |
been remodeled. !
The problem of paying the human !
cost of the World War was a huge |
one in the beginning. It is still a,
majoi national problem. :
Across 3000 miles of ocean, in 1917 !
and 1918, we transported an army |
of 2,000,000 Americans, practically
without loss of life from enemy guns, |
torpedoes or mines. |
Across the same expanse of awter, |
a little later, 117,000 wounded and
sick were brought back to the Unit- |
ed States—some to live, some to die, |
many not to know for years the price |
they must pay for their participation !
in the war. |
Beyond the sea, on foreign soil,
80,000 soldiers of the American Ex-
peditionary Force were killed in ac-
tion, or died of wounds, injuries or
disease.
In the single great offensive oper- |
ation of the American First Army, in |
the half-month between Sept. 26 and
Nov. 11, 1918—the attack which
brought about the enemy’s appeal for
the armistice—our losses were 117,-
000 in killed and wounded.
These items, large as they are, do
not constitute the total human cost
of our brief participation in the
World War. There were, in addition,
scores of thousands of young men
who either died in the training and
concentration camps here in America,
or in those camps contracted diseases
with lasting effects.
The total toll of war was such that
death or disability claims have been
filed for one-fifth of all the men who
served in the armed forces of the
United States during the World War.
More than half a million claims have
been allowed. And nearly ten years
after the war—on July 1, 1928—250,-
000 veterans were receiving disability
compensation. The army of disabled
included men afflicted with anemia
receiving from $40 to $100 a month.
depending upon the seriousness of
their condition. It included thousands
of men with impaired hearts or ar-
teries. We had and have scores of
thousands of other cases involving
every disease or abnormal physical
or mental condition from bronchiec-
tasis to dementia precox. The com-
pensation paid the veterans may be
as little as $8 a month. It may be
as much as $250 a month. The larger
sum is granted in some cases of dis-
ability rated as “double, permanent
and total,” and includes $50 for pay-
ment of an attendant when necessary.
The payment of money, however,
whether in the form of insurance,
disability compensation or bonus
loans, is not the “heart” of the Gov-
ernment’s debt payment to the vei-
erans. In fifty Veterans’ Bureau hos-
pitals from coast to coast, and in oth- |
er hospitals supervised by the Gov-
ernment, we find perhaps the finest
present expression of the desire of
our people to pay the nation’s debt
to the war veterans. :
Any former soldier, any marine,
and sailor, any nurse, who was not
dishonorably discharged, may in time
of sickness find refuge in a Govern-
ment hospital. Such a policy and
program entails large expenditures.
Yet 1 beliece the policy of hospitali-
zation for all ex-service men, of all
wars, and for all disabilities, when
the men are unable to take care of
themselves, is one which will continue
to have the hearty support of the na-
tion.
More than 26,000 men and women
who served with the military forces
of the United States are now receiv-
ing treatment in Government opetat-
ed or supervised hospitals.
What they receive is not mere pex-
functory, routine medical care or
treatment. It is treatment constant-
ly supervised and studied by a medi-
cal council composed of world-re-
nowned physicians; men who have at-
tained high distinction in the devel-
opment of new methods of diagnosis
or treatment. The former doughboy,
without money and perhaps without
friends, whose illness has brought
him to one of the diagnostic centres
of the Veterans’ Bureau, may receive
the same attention and treatment for
which one of the medical consultant’s
millionaire patients would pay from
$500 to $5000. :
Where the medical skill available
at the regional office or hispital is
unable to afford relief to the patient,
and there is serious question as to |
the nature of the disease or disorder,
the veteran may be sent to the diag:
nostic centres at Washington, Palo
Alto or Cincinnati.
There the examination may, and
usually does, require a period of
thirty days. The expense—if charizes
were made against the patient as in
ordinary private medical practice—
might and usually would aggregate
$1,500 or more. But the veteran pays
nothing.
The Veterans’ Bureau is not con-
tent merely to adjust claims for
compensation that come to it; to
give medical treatment merely to
those who present themselves at its
office or hospitals. It actively co-
operates with the veterans’ own fine |
organizations in seeking former ser-
vice men who may be unaware of the
laws intended for their benefit, or
too ill mentally or physically to ask
the help to which they are entitled.
The “follow-up” nursing service of
the bureau is often a factor in ex-
tending aid where none, or too little,
has been asked. A veteran visited
by a bureau nurse was found to be
vecciving only 40 per cent. disability
compensation, for arthritis with heart
i complications, and procured for him |
a total-disability rating.
Nor does the obligation of the Gov-
ernment cease with discharge or
“cure” of the patient. Those who
ernment in behalf of its physically
and mentally handicapped veterans.
To aid them the Government main-
tains definite organizations to assist
in obtaining employment for partial-
ly disabled veterans.
Tn eases of tuberculosis, even where
after prolonged rest and treatment in
a bureau hospital, the veterans’ ill-
ness is “arrested” or what might or-
dinarily be termed “cured,” the Gov-
ernment does not consider its obliga-
tion fulfilled. In such cases veterans,
under recently enacted law, will be
paid $50 a month during the remaind-
er of their lives. That payment will
relieve them from the necessity of en-
gaging in occupations which by rea-
son of excessive demands upon their
strength might result in a return of
the disease. Between 50,000 and 60,-
000 veterans will be benefited event-
ually by this provision for their wel-
fare. The total cost probably will
amount to $600,000,000. It is part of
the price we pay for war; part of
the cost of crowding scores of thou-
sands of young men into trenches and
military camps. But it is a bill that
| the American people are glad fo pay,
because it will save and preserve
thousands of fine, useful young lives.
As time goes on the obligation of
the Government changes. The aver-
age age of the former service men is
now 34 years. That age is beyond
the period of greatest susceptibility
to tuberculosis. We shall have in
Veterans’ Bureau hospitals, therefore,
fewer and fewer cases of tuberculosis.
In 1922 we had 12,000; now we have
t 6500.
So, too, the surgical and general
medical cases, including, of course,
shot and shell injuries sustained in
the war have been decreasing. We
had 10,000 in 1922. Now there are
only 6,700.
But in another direction the Gov-
ernment’s obligation is increasing.
There has been a steady, upward
trend in the number of veteran pa-
tients with mental and nervous af-
fictions. In 1919 there were less
than 8000 such patients, including
those who bore the so-called “invis-
ible scars of war:” the shell-shocked
veterans. Now there are 13,000. Our
medical experts estimate that the
peak of such cases will not be reach-
ed until 1947, when, with the veter-
ans at an average age of 53, there
probably will be between 40,000 and
50,000 suffering from nervous and
mental disorders. We may have to
provide hospital facilities for 16,000
of these unfortunate veterans.
We have paid and will continue to
pay a high price for our participa-
tion in the wars of the past. The
combined cost during the past year
of all forms of veterans’ relief, in-
cluding the Veterans’ Bureau, the
Pension Bureau,
diers’ Homes
‘ amounted to $750,000,000. Yet who
will question the entire willingness of
‘the American people to continue to
meet the obligation and bear the cost
, —provided there is not waste, ex-
_travagance, graft or politics connect-
; ed with the fulfillment of that obliga-
, tion?
We have paid to disabled veterans
"and their dependents a total of $1,
280,000,000. We are still paying dis-
ability compensation at the rate of
1 $150,000,000 a year, and 90,000 moth-
| ers, fathers, widows and children of
i dead veterans are being paid $31,000,-
000 a year.
! But the Government has not made
! provision merely for the sick and dis-
jabled. It has afforded all veterans
‘an opportunity to secure insurance
{ at low premium rates, and 660,000 of
| them have taken advantage of the
' opportunity. Many thousands of those
men would have been unable to ob-
| tain any insurance at all if required
| to submit to the medical examinations
of standard insurance companies.
| As part of the national obligation
‘to those who served their counkry at
low “wages” in the period of peak
| wages in civil life, we have issued
( 3,300,000 adjusted compensation or
| “bonus” certificates. They have a
i face value of more than $3,000,000,000,
| payable in twenty years. They have
| enabled the veterans, in time of need,
{to borrow $75,000,000 from the Gov-
ernment with no other security than
| the certificates.
| There were more than 65,000 ad-
| missions to Government operated or
| supervised hospitals for veterans In
the last year; more than 800,000 “out-
| patient” treatments. The Govern-
| ment provides funds, in case of need,
| war. It provides clothing for indi-
| gent, disabled veterans hospitalized
{by the Veterans’ Bureau. It even
| purchases artificial limbs or ortho-
| poldic appliances needed by the men.
the Board of Sol-'
and other activities,
HUNTING FOR GOLD.
Being the story of one of Will Trucken-
miller's many experiences in the Lunt for
gold.
The summer following the death of
that old Sioux trouble maker, Sitting
Bull, and the destruction of Dull
Knife’s band of ill fated dupes, found
me in Northern Montana on the hunt
for gold; the objective being the
Sweet Grass Hills.
My partner, a man named Berry,
had listened to the tales of a wander-
er known as Santa, who claimed to
have been in the Hills the fall before
and found rich placers, and I, in turn
had listened to Berry. My adventure
loving spirit had found it pleasant
listening, too. So there we were,
mule team, covered wagon and all, a
few miles north of Fort Benton and
headed across the plains.
When we left Dakota Santa assur-
ed us he knew every trail and every
water hole in the country. But when
we left the trail at Havre he was not
quite so confident and by the time
we had traveled two days I knew him
to be a modern Ananias and that he
had never been near the Hills. He
could not tell us where to find water,
the nature of the land ahead of us,
roads, grass, anything. On the third
day, about 4 o'clock, we came to a
coulee in which was a pool of water.
It was evil smelling and covered with
an oily scum that had the odor of
coal tar. The mules would not drink
it.
Here, on the second bench, just
i south and east of a high hill we made
camp; in a harry, too, for a low, black
cloud had swept down cut of the
west, with an incessant flashing of
lightning and crashes of thunder.
for the burial of the veterans of any
Then came the wind and, with it, a
deluge of rain and small hail stones.
In half an hour that coulee was a
| aging river. It was well for us that
| In these and countless other ways,
we are meeting our obligation to
those who paid the first and great:
est cost of war. We have improved
our methods of meeting veterans’
needs. But further improvement is
possible, and neither the public which
pays the ultimate bill for war nor
the veterans who pay the first cost
additional legislation.
There should be a single “Depart-
ment of Veterans’ Relief” to
all veterans of all wars.
veterans in need of employment. The
entire responsibility should be dele-
gated to the Veterans’ Bureau.
There is difficulty in obtaining the
highest type of “recruits”
| medical staff of the Veterans’ Bu-
| rean, and in retaining in the service
those who have demonstrated their
‘ability. A permanent medical corps,
with proper preliminary training,
will be best served until there is some :
i
i
equitably with all matters affecting it.
i
for the:
{ adequate opportunities for advance- |
jment, and assurance of remunesation'
| commensurate with a high type of
"professional skill, would result in still
‘ greater benefits to our sick and dis- |
abled veterans.
We shall not pay the full price of
lour participation in the World War
{in less than fifty years. But until
| it is paid, and paid in full, the Amer-
| ican people will not consider their ob-
{have ever had any experience in at- | ligation fulfilled to those who paid
| tempting to find work for a crippled | with life and limb, blinded eyes and
‘boy or girl will realize the urgent twisted minds, the first and greatest
! need for organized effort by the Gov- ! cost of war.
rss A see mee.
in 1928.
118,803 more drivers and added mis-
or 4.6 pr cent.
per cent. more than in 1927, and the
total of all vehicles was 1,714,306.
Operators number 1,993,455.
The 1928 revenue of the bureau was
$27,113,177.10, as compared with $25,-
916,220.45 in 1927.
began keeping separate records on
passenger and commercial vehicles
the pleasure car registration has
jumped from 104,950 to 1,428,511.
Commercial registrations went up
from 6329 to 225,299.
Motor law fines show a net gain of
21.7 per cent, for 1928 over 1927, to-
taling $532,812.68. Interest on bureau
funds on deposit in banks amounted
to $29,968.24.
Decreases were noted in the num-
vehicles of the Class R and Class Y
type to motor omnibus Class M, to
motorcycles and in title transfers.
Earnest Thompson Seton to Lecure in
Summer Camps.
Earnest Thompson Seton, natural-
ist, lecturer, and author who has
spent many years studying and
teaching woodcraft in this country
has been engaged as a special lectur-
er for the 1929 summer session nature
camps of the Pennsylvania State Col-
lege, according to an announcement
made by George R. Green, professor
of nature education and director of
the nature camps at the Pennsylvania
State College.
Mr. Seton who has made a thor-
ough study of life among the Amer-
jean Indians and early pioneers of
the west, will lecture to the summer
session students on interesting phases
of his work in woodcraft.
The nature camps located in Stone
Valley are designed for teachers in
public schools and colleges desiring
practical experience in field work and
nature education. Two camps will be
conducted; the first from June 27 to
July 18, and the second from July wn
to August 17.
ms ——— lp ————
—Subscribe for the Watchman.
showing that 70,6556 more vehicles, |
ber of licenses issued to commercial !
we had pitched our camp well up the
bank and not in the bottom, as Santa
had wished. The mules got a drink
for there was water everywhere.
In the morning what had been a
parched and dreary desert the day
before was transformed into a lovely
plain, with a faint green tint. After
breakfast Berry handed Santa some
grub and a blanket and, pointing back
the way we had come, said: “Beat
it 1” while I sat on the ground fool-
ing with my Winchester. Exit Santa.
We camped there all day and shot
antelopes until we were tired of it.
I quit after I had brought down the
deal second one as there was no sport in
The bands were traveling and a
handkerchief on the top of a tall
There is, too, at present a division weed would decoy them into close
of responsibility for the assistance of range.
We went back to the rail-road, sold
our outfit and swore never again to
listen to the fairy tales of a “Wan-
dering Willie.”
We kept that oath only a few
months. Because when the edge of
that disappointment had worn off and
we had earned a new grub-stake the
wander-lust and the gold fever was
on us again.
NEED 1,397 TRAINS FOR ROAD
MATERIAL.
Highway material used in Pennsyl-
‘vania during 1928 filled 69,870 raii-
road freight cars, 1897 trains of fifty
cars each, the Pennsylvania Depart-
ment of Highways announces. Im-
agine a train of freight cars with the
caboose just leaving Philadelphia, ex-
tending over the Lincoln Highway to
Pittsburgh, and doing an about face
over the William Penn as far as Har-
risburg, where 1,000 locomotives
! ' would be puffing and snorting to pull
| More Cars Licensed This Year Than the load. Allowing for the length of
1
|
i
i
Since 1914, when the bureau first
|
the locomotives and the space be-
tween cars due to couplings, the train
Growth in the use of automobiles in would resemble a huge dog trying to
the State is represented in compara- i catch his
tive figures for 1927 and 1928 releas- would nearly touch the caboose in
ed by the State motor vehicle bureau. Philadelphia.
tail, for the lead engine
The first 11,000 cars of the train
would be filled with cement, followed
cellaneous receipts of $65,412 in the by 350 cars of brick, 13,000 cars of
year just ended gave the bureau a sand, 43,920 cars of stone and 1,600
total gain in revenue of $1,197,5566.65 tank cars filled with oil.
In 1928 the Department used 16,-
The number of passenger car regis- 430,693 gallons of bituminous oil for
trations in 1928 was 1,428,514, or 4.6 surface treatment of roads,
nearly
enough to fill the smaller of two
water reservoirs in Harrisburg. That
thirsty city uses about 12,000,000 dai-
ly. Enough oil was sprayed on high-
ways to cover the entire State like
the dew.
If this oil could be passed through
a power plant, dropping eleven feet
upon the turbines, it would generate
2,190,759 horsepower of electricity.
For each additional fall of eleven feet
add the same number of horse-power.
The Department has made no cal-
culation of the man-power exerted by
motorists polishing oil spots off of
their cars after a trip over oiled roads
although it must be a considerable
item. Officials say, however, that the
new type of oil is far less difficult to
get off the car than the original in
use some years ago, and it does not
injure the finish.
Heaping the 2,808,175 barrels of
cement used in one great pile would
dwarf the Capitol building by com-
parison, and Harrisburg’s reservoirs
would be drained in mixing this much
cement for contrete work. The 4,
000,000 vitrified bricks would go quite
a distance toward a row of dwelling
houses, but somewhat further in
eighteen foot highways.
———— eee
State College has 28 Religious Faiths.
There are 28 religious denomina-
tions represented on the State Col-
lege campus this year, according to
a religious census compiled by the
registrar of the college. The Presby-
terian, with 879 students, is shown to
have the largest number of any one
denomination. Methodists have the
second largest enrollment with 804
students.
Other religious faiths with more
than 200 students include Lutherans,
Episcopalians, Reformed and Roman
Catholics. Those numbering less than
200 include Jewish, Baptists, Breth-
ren, Friends, S
Christian Scientists, Christians, Uni-
tarians and Church of Christ. There
are 11 other faiths with a following
of less than 10.
Congregationalists, |
FOR AND ABOUT WOMEN.
DAILY THOUGHT
The brightest stars are burning suns;
The deepest water stillest runs;
"The laden bee the lowest flies;
The richest mine the deepest lies;
The stalk that's most replenished.
Doth bow the most its modest head;
Thus deep humility we find
The mark of every master-mind.
—ANON.
Fashion loves contrasts. She de-
crees that we swathe ourselves in the
somber richness of luxurious furs—
then lest we take our dignity too
much to heart she gives us the gay-
est things to wear beneath them.
Not only is the contrast apparent
in color, but also in line. The run
about frock, beloved of couturieres,
and the dressmakery models which
hold a high place in everyone's fash-
jon affections, are particularly adapt-
able as “fur coat fashions.”
If your fur coat of the winter is one
of those severely tailored models
handled like a fabric that are so very
smart just now, allow yourself a little
flurry of circular tiers, a soft neck-
line, a few plaits, or a bit of drape.
Nothing looks quite as charming as a
woman about to lunch in a restaurant,
whose somberly simple wrap when re-
moved by the reverent hands of the
waiter reveals contrasting color and
cilhouette— like a lovely portrait in a
‘worthy frame.
On the other hand, if one is tall
enough, slim enough, and distinguish-
ed enough to wear one of the fur
coats with huge fluffy collars and
cuffs that roll so becomingly about a
slim throat or wrists—the frock be-
neath must be contrastingly simple in
line to achieve a really chic effect.
Every frill and furbelow should be
carefully suppressed. Flat diagonal
tiers, an intricate cut which retains
an outward simplicity, the swirling
circular skirt which has taken the
mode by storm and simplest of neck-
lines and jewelry are all the mere at-
tractive in a soft frame of long-hair-
ed pelts.
Printed velvets and artificial vel-
vets are ideal mates for the formal
type of fur wrap. Those with small,
mathematically-arranged patterns are
highest in chic. Tiny flowers, colored
flecks, assorted sized dots, open cir-
cles, small checks and triangles are
outstanding in both French and
American patterned velvets. The
grounds are usually dark and rich
in hue with the design in lighter and
more vivid colors.
| Ferns are always associated in my
mind with lovely vases, somehow.
A room is never really drab when it
has either a graceful vase or a dainty
fern.
Ferns need care, as you who have
them know very well. For instance,
hey must have light, but not direct
sunlight. The direct rays injure the
sensitive fronds. If you have a north
room that has plenty of light, put the
plant there.
In Winter the temperature of the
room at night should be about fifty-
five degrees and during the day ten
cr fifteen degrees higher.
There is an idea prevalent, I might
almost call it a superstition, that
ferns can’t be over-watered. They
can. Any number of women who
once had ferns and haven’t now will
testify that they can be over-watered.
That doesn’t mean that the soil should
be too dry, either. I; should be pack-
ed firmly about the roots and the
roots should be kept cool.
If you don’t want the plant for a
table decoration, place it in a jar-
diniere or vase and pack damp
spagnum moss around it. In that
way you're sure of keeping the roots
cool.
Don’t forget to keep the leaves
clean. Wait for a bright day, then
syringe the leaves with clear water.
My favorite florist told me that
when plants begin to fade they should
be set in a tub of water and left there
over night. Let the water come just
a little over the top of the plant.
The next morning drain the plant and
it will feel and look as refreshed as
the athlete who has taken his plunge
after the race is over.
When measuring drops of extract
or medicine from a bottle, dip your
finger in water and moisten the rim
of the bottle in one place, using this
place from which to drop the essence.
It will drop easily and evenly.
For parties where the hostess has
to do the serving herself, the very
easiest kind of dessert she can have
is individual pies. Somehow, the in-
dividual service is so much daintier
than the usual wedge-shaped piece of
pie. And all the individual pies can
be prepared ahead of time, so that
it becomes merely necessary to put
them in front of your guests.
Use just ordinary pastry for the
shells, or, if you want something a
little different, try this flaky pastry.
+1 cup shortening, 1 teaspoon salt,
|'3 cups flour and cold water.
Cut the shortening into the flour
' which has been previously sifted with
.salt. Don’t blend it too finely, but
have the fat in small lumps distrib-
uted through the flour. Divide the
mixture into two parts. To half, add
enough water to make a stiff paste.
Roll out on a floured board to about
'a quarter of an inch thickness. In
‘the centre spread the other half of
i the flour mixture.
{ Fold over the floured
edges to
‘meet the centre, and roll out gently
' to about one-half-inch thickness. Fold
over again and roll again, repeating
‘several times. Then chill the dough
‘in the refrigerator before shaping it
"into shells, and bake in a hot oven.
| For shells that are to be baked
"without filling, prick the surface with
(a fork to prevent blistering in the
‘oven.
Agnes sends us a litle brown felt
! spring hat, with narrow brim, that
"has its crown swathed in a gorgeous
brown and orange scarf which knots
"in the back and has long ends to wrap
! around the neck.
Many children are discouraged
from eating because they are given
| too large portions. Cereal is twice
as appealing to a child if served in
la cute porridge dish.
FARM NOTES.
—Acreage of winter wheat planted
this fall by farmers in Pennsylvania
is 6 per cent. less than the seeded
area in the fall of 1927 according to
the Pennsylvania federal State crop
reporting service. A decrease of only
1 per cent. was indicated in the Au-
gust intentions-to-plant, but dry
weather in some sections, which made
plowing difficult, together with the
disappointing crop harvested last
year, caused further reduction.
The acreage sown is estimated to
be 1,137,000 acres, compared with 1,-
210,000 acres sown in the fall of 1927,
of which 1,101,100 acres remained to
be harvested last year. Abandon-
ment, due to winter killing, has usu-
ally not exceeded 3 per cent.
The condition of the 1928 wheat
plantings on December 1 was re-
ported as 90 per cent, three points
below the condition of the plantings
on December 1 a year ago. The av-
erage December 1 condition is 90 per
cent.
Taking the entire country, winter
wheat sown for next year’s harvest
is estimated at 43,228,000 acres, a de-
crease of 8.6 per cent. from the revis-
ed estimate in the fall of 1926. The
condition of winter wheat on De-
cember 1 is reported as 84.4 per cent.,
compared with 86 per cent. a year ago
and 84.6 per cent. the ten-year aver-
age.
——
—State Forester Joseph S. Illick to-
day outlined a number of suggestions
for the spring planting of trees and
shrubbery as a means toward home
beautification. The suggestions, he
said, were timely because a great
many people prepare during the winter
months, careful plans to be followed
when planting becomes possible.
“It should be remembered that in
beautifying the home with trees the
outlay can be regarded as an invest-
ment in beauty, health, comfort and
finally in cash value,” Illick said.
“All of these are important but any
one of them would make the invest-
ment worth while.
In the beautification of any home
grounds there are several important
things to consider. The first is to
remove all undesirable material. The
second thing to do in the development
of the home grounds is to plant—
desirable shrub or tree specie. There
are a number of distinct types of
planting, and these should be kept in
mind when one is developing the sur-
roundings of a humble home or a
princely palace. Most important of
{ these are doorway, foundation, back-
ground, boundary, group and speci-
men planting.
. Doorway and foundation planting
is possible in practically every home.
It is a rare house that looks well with
its base totally exposed. The most
widely used material for this pur-
pose is small evergreen trees. Trees
should be planted that do not grow
high and are well adapted to shear-
ing and pruning. Among the trees
best adapted are prostrate juniper,
dwarf mountain pine, blue spruce.
pd vitae, white spruce and Douglas
1Y.
Trees for background plantin
should be the raat + oe
ous kinds that grow sufficiently high.
Among suitable trees for this pur-
pose are tulip tree, red oak, Ameri-
can elm, and sugar maple. In special
places the weeping willow, white
birch and Lombardy poplar can also
be used advantageously.
Between the house and the bound-
ary line of the property lies that por-
ticn of the lawn that is often difficult
to handle. It is here that one must
consider planting along drives and
walks, and setting out individual
specimens and tree groups. All of
these need to be developed so as to
produce a harmonious whole and
great care should be taken in the
proper arrangement.
y Individual trees with striking fea-
tures are very attractive. The redbud
and dogwood are striking examples
of trees with attractive blooms. The
mountain ash is attractive both for
its bloom and fruit. The Christmas
holly is famed for its foliage. The
weeping willow, weeping birch, and
pin oak have impressive form fea-
tures. Pin oak fulfills every require-
ment of an excellent lawn tree. Oth-
er excellent specimen of lawn trees
are the fernleaf beech, Japanese
maple, American cork maple, and
selected species of our nati
and birches. ie varies
—Where forests are cut down with
no provision for immediate regrowth,
the economic effects reach out far be-
yond the lumber business. Industries
move away, wages are reduced, bank
deposits decrease, farmers lose their
markets, railroad revenues shrink,
schools deteriorate, good roads are
fewer, tax burdens pile up, and
abandoned farms abound.
i —During the winter when pasture
grasses are not available, it is es-
sential that vitamins be supplied the
fall pigs and brood sows in the form
of alfalfa. Recent experiments show
that the biological effect of good al-
falfa hay when fed properly makes
it worth $900 a ton as hog feed.
: Other protein should be fed with al-
i falfa and a good ration is composed
of 50 per cent. tankage, 25 per cent.
,0il meal, and 25 per cent. ground al-
falfa. Fed at the rate of 10 per cent.
with farm grains excellent results
are obtainable.
i —Exercise is of great importance
to both work horses and growing
| stock. A few hours in a paddock or
+ small pasture, with protection from
| bad weather, is worth many pounds
of feed in the growth and care of
horses. Lack of exercise may cause
stockiness of the legs and sometimes
the disease known as azeturia.
—A straw loft in a poultry house
supplies an insulating material and
makes for a more uniform tempera-
ture throughout the year. Poultry-
men report that straw loft houses
are warmer in winter and cooler in
summer due to the insulating prop-
erties of the straw.
—