Former Centre Countian
Knew Pal of Jesse James.
s——
Another Thrilling Story of the Frontier Life of Larry
Curtin as Told by George L. Erhard in the
Rock Springs, Wyoming, Rocket.
Jesse Ewing canyon, picturesque
landmark on the main road from
Rock Springs tc Brown's Park in the
northwest corner of Colorado, is lit-
erally filled with historic lore. In
the days of old it was wild and bar-
barous as any frontier ever known.
Today it is subdued and placid in its
glorious greenswards and towering
mountain sentries. Like a penitent
sinner it has reformed and veiled its
nonsense with a verdant gloss that
shimmers in the sunlight with daz-
zling brilliancy. It almost stills its
echoes of the past.
Its baptismal title naturally dates
from its earliest settler—Jesse Ewing
__who entered as a trapper for the
Hudson Bay Company about 1874.
He was immediately captivated by
the natural grandeur of the fastness,
surcharged with a stilly calm, and its
perfect security from the encroach-
ment of civilization. The hush of
nature fascinated him.
The fur-yielding beaver made his
acquatic abode along every stream
in that sequestered wilderness and
thrived until many thousand of the
playful ovate-tailed rodents pre-empt-
ed the banks of the smaller waters.
Beaver fur, used largely in the manu-
facture of hats those days, was in
great demand; and dauntless trap-
pers penetrated every nook of the
spreading west in search of them.
Additional to their fur, the animals
produced an odoriferous secretion
named castor, used as an anti-spas-
modic medicine. .
The beaver, amphibian in habits,
capable of living on land and in wa-
ter, built its mud and stick lodges on
lakes and streams close to the water’s
edge. They were substantial dwel-
lings so arranged that the entrances
were under water to afford the in-
mates protection from predatory en-
emies, principally wolves. Living
solely on berries, roots, leaves
and the bark of trees, they naturally
‘lingering pioneer Ewing that
sought streams bordered by forests. |
Thus the trapper class easily knew
where to seek the fur-yielding ani-
mals. They also easily were found
by hunters because of the distant
evidence of their instinctively devised
dams. When the beaver found a
stream too shallow for his needs,
it laboriously erected a dam of wood,
stones and mud so ingeniously con-
structed that it would withstand the
strain of the eroding elements for
many years. Thus the presence of a
beaver dam directed the alert trap-
per.
Each beaver house usually held
four old and six to eight young cubs.
They were so plentiful among the
primeval forests that the capture
long continued to be a profitable oc-
cupation.
ASYLUM FOR OUTLAWS.
But the interior domain provided a
lonely life for the human fan.ily
wherein the gregarious spirit of inan
often loses its hold and the human
entity lowers into a state of semi-
savagery. Such sotitudes specially
fitted certain men easier than {he
men fitted such loneliness.
Thus Brown's Park and its feeder
canyons lured many adventurous be-
ings for reasons best known to them-
selves. And the corners of a three-
states pact—Wymoning, Colorado
and Utah furnished many border
episodes and constituted an invita-
tional paradise between 1870 and
1880 for men who were fugitives and
outlaws from eastern states and
moved to the edge of civilization for
a haven of personal safety from
capture.
Most of those early settlers were
pleasant enough to meet; but there
was a suspicious distance in their be-
havior that warned one to not en-
croach too close with leading ques-
tions. Plainly speaking, that was
the chief unwritten law of the bor-
derland—*“mind your own business
and you'll succeed down here !”
Roving bands of gypsy-like trap-
pers occupied that domain exclusively
for several decades until cattlemen
heard of its rich feeding possibilities
for their roving herds. When the
Union Pacific railway united the east
and the west with a ribbon of steel in
1869, cattle literally were poured
into southwestern Wyoming, the un-
loading taking place at Rock Springs,
itter Creek and other contiguous
stations.
into the far interior, their ownership
was made secure by the presto ster-
ling mark-the-owner’s red hot initials
branded deeply into the hide so it
would not grow off. Little did the
suffering yearling know what it all
meant, save to keep a safe distance
from all mankind thereafter.
CATTLE ENTRY CIVILIZED.
Hoy brothers. who came to this
country from Centre county, Penn-
sylvania, in the early '80's moved
many cattle into. this district. and
used Brown's Park. Great winding
valley lined with precipitous moun-
tain walls, as their home ranch. Lar-
ry Curtin, veteran resident of this
district, was sent here with a string
of ponies in 1882 from Fremont, Ne-
braska, by Valentine Hoy who later
made Larry foreman of his ranch
outfit.
Curtin is a Pennsylvanian also; be-
ing a member of the Curtin family
of Centre county and a close relative
of Pennsylvania's famous War Gov-
ernor, Andrew G. Curtin.
Oddly enough, with the cattle there
came a higher form of civilization, a
marked elevation in local mankind.
Thus Larry Curtin was among the
vanguard of crusaders who promoted
a respect for the law of the land and
its consequences. He is still here
after an honorable career of 47 years
Before trailing the critters
and is highly respected. His unfail-
ing memory recalls the many sturdy
acquaintances who passed before his
view in those hectic days when the
dare-devil gentry ruled the open
spaces with a high-handed insolence.
KEEPING MUM, PAID.
The old activities and recalled
scenes have been veiled in obscurity
ior years. And for obvious reasons,
Posibly because they were common
occurances in those days, no one
seemed to take more than passive in-
terest in the many tragedies deeply
etched into the turbid history affect-
ing that entire south country.
But Larry Curtin is a literal mine
of information concerning the affairs
of Jesse Swing canyon and Brown's
Park. Those who roamed the deep
valleys and knew their bearings by
the mountain peak guide-marks, in-
variably kept sealed memories of the
many tragic acts because, if you
please, it was not very healthful to
to even whisper what you knew. If
you did, it meant the verdict of your
doom! And Larry Curtin, adjured
for many years to the unwritten laws
of secrecy, kept his own counsel.
Now, in the role of The Last of the
Mohicans he will relate those stirring
happenings cautiously to his close
friends of later years. It was during
some of those unguarded moments
when fellowship itself demands purest
candor, that Larry unleased the
cryptic messages stored in his mind.
He is particularly fond of relating his
border epics to his friend, H. J. Boice,
prominent merchant and republican
state committeeman. And now about
, that history.
EWING WAS A KILLER.
Jesse Ewing canyon will possibly
encounter. He was a knife man, quick
as a flash with a weapon, but seldom
if ever carried a gun for defense.
Although grim and stoical in his
bearing, he was respected. His prop-
erty investment reached $25,000 and
it was all his.
CARVES MAN TO DEATH.
Jesse walked quite briskly into
Jarvie’s store one day, and said with
an air of indifference, ‘John, I'll take
you up the ice and show you the
prettiest corpse you ever saw!’ Jarvie
startled and uncertain, did not catch
the gist of the remark for the time,
but followed the trapper meekly up
the frozen creek where the bloody
remains of one of Ewing’s employees
lay in the snow disemboweled and!
horribly mutilated. He had been
slashed from head to foot with a
hunting knife.
«71 killed him in a fuss’, said Ewing
with grim, fiendish glee. That was in
1881. Jarvie remained to help bury
the man whose name ws never learn-
ed. He was simply another unidenti-
fied adventurer with possibly a long
criminal record who died with his
boots on—to complete a checkered
(career fittingly!
“As murder was so common those
days and no one claimed the remains
nor pressed prosecution, Ewing never
,was arrested for his foul deed.
«J AM THAT MAN”—EWING.
| “One day a blatant stranger enter-
ed Jarvie’s store, made a purchase,
then asked: ‘Where is this notorious
Jesse Ewing and the canyon named
after him?’ Jarvie, startled deigned
no reply. But Ewing was standing
there and replied:
“ qq am that man; what do you
want?’ Jesse smiled and stared the
stranger out of countenance. The
brash fellow was quite embarrassed,
left soon thereafter with plenty of
misgivings for his folly and precious
fears for his safety. But Ewing pass-
ed it along as a joke.
« “Later, I went up the canyon and
slept all night with Jesse. He was
sociable with me although TI felt
squeamish and feared for my safety.
I didn’t sleep much. But he treated
{me with hospitality.
EWING IN FRAME-UP.
| “Ewing was the victim of a near-
Ee — —
“Ewing could be desperate in an in him.
A man’s pony meant every-
‘thing. The fleet equine carried him
!everywhere, was often his sole com-
panion for days and nights, and
brushed him out of harm’s length in
‘every crisis, meaning, perhaps, more
to the western cowman than Richard
the Third’s famous lament, “A horse,
la horse, my kingdom for a horse!”
‘The old ipse dixit or one-man rule
‘over a certain area is gone forever—
ithe law has stepped in to maintain
decorum and tranquility in every cor-
ner of the nation, with possibly Chi-
cago facetiously excepted.
HOOVER INTRODUCES
: DINNER TABLE REIGN.
The Hoover administration is be-
coming known as a “dinner table”
administration.
| Only two or three nights have pas-
sed since the Hoovers moved into the
White House two months ago with-
out a large group gathered about the
President and his wife at the dining
[table in the executive mansion.
| It is'a new departure in the White
House. Social Washington has begun
to marvel at it. Never has there been
such an “open house” maintained at
|the big colonial mansion on Penn-
ylvania avenue.
It is nothing new for the Hoovers.
They merely are carrying into the
| White House a custom that prevailed
'in their California home and in the S
St. home for years. In Califor-
nia it was a group of college friends,
professors and their families, who
were guests for dinner or Sunday
night “supper.” S St. neighbors and
official friends were frequent guests
| during the time when the present
President was Secretary of Com-
merce.
| President Hoover is timid in the
presence of public crowds, but he
likes to have people about him in his
home. Sometimes he is with a dinner
group and not “of” it. He sits, quiet-
1v at his place, with only an occasion-
al monosyllable injected into the con-
versation.
At other times he takes a lively
interest in some conversational topic.
He is fond of anecdotes, and tells
many that have cropped up in his
| varied experience in all parts of the
{world. Avidly, he questions anyone
{who is informed on a subject in
always retain that title. It is graven plot in 1884 that ended eventually in which he is interested, munching nuts
deeply into the public mind and his tragic death. He went to Salt from the compotes about his plate
means just that. And who was this
been some man, as they say.
Lake City to sell pelts. While there,
he he fell in with a dance hall subrette '
' should stand so sternly in memory’s whose paramour, named Duncan, was resentative, and most of the dinners
abysmal depths? Well, he must have a typical rowdy type of handy gun- are informal affairs.
|man. Ewing aged and unkempt, pro-
containing various assortments.
The group of guests always is rep-
They serve a
|useful political purpose. Through
Standing straight as an arrow, posed marriage to the actress and | them the President is enabled to keep
with towering six feet of real man,
his smooth face almost gave him the
appearance of a ghostly hero of revo-
lutionary war fame grimly returning
to life as a portentous oufe—a figure |
to fear—is the way Jesse Ewing ap-
peared to many he held in subjective
fear for years. His sandy complexion
was the proper background for his
deep-set blue eyes of the liquid kind,
penetrating and dazzling. As optics
are the windows of the soul, so Ew-
ing’s eyes revealed the inmost nature
of the man who was arrayed by na-
ture to perform sterling hardships
and to brave every possible physical
handicap alotted to man.
He could be austere enough. With-
al he was known consistently as a
smiling fellow. Ewing was about 55
years old in 1882 when Larry Curtin
first encountered the picteresque
plainsman. He was big in name out
in his haunts and his word was law.
It was whispered that he was a fugi-
tive from Missouri where he had the
reputation as a killer who always got
his man and evaded the authorities
who abjectly feared his formidable
nerve. :
Ewing even smiled, so they said, as |
he slashed his adversaries to death,
the figure of grim savagery with a
smiling accompaniment to disguise
his real hostility. Like the Parthian
horseman of old he systematized his
deeds and, “Like the Parthian horse-
man, flying, wounds.”
MEMBER OF JAMES GANG.
It was hinted from the outset that
Ewing was a retired member of the
notorious Jesse James gang of Jack-
son county, Missouri, and consorted
with the Fords and Youngers of more
or less unsavory reputation. He de-
lighted in his given name, Jesse,
which might have been an adapta-
tion of honor for the real Jesse
James. Ewing acted like a hunted
exile, was watchful, cautious, alert—
dropped to his earth couch, slept with
one eye open, and arose with the
military spring of an Indian. He re-
ligiously planned against being trap-
ped, and apparently lived in fear of
a surprise by searching officials.
His own mysterious conduct con
victed him in the minds of his ac-
quaintances. He employed, guarded-
ly, five or six under-trappers. When
he needed funds to finance his pay-
roll and to procure provisions, he
stole away with Bedouin stealth and
reappeared with the same guarded
secrecy.
He always had money when he re-
turned and did not entirely depend
on his fur pelt sales for maintenance.
It was hinted that he received money
from the James gang and hid it in
a cache known to only himself.
CURTIN MEETS EWING.
“I met Jesse Ewing in 1882 soon
after I landed at Brown's Park,” said
Larry Curtin, “and he was a type of
handsome frontiersman. John Jarvie
Sr. had a wayside store and mail re-
lay station near the mouth of Jesse
Ewing canyon, close also to Red
Creek, Bosling mountain and Clay ba-
sin. He built several log cabins and
outbuildings within the canyon and
called his miniature village, Mountain
Home. He raised no stock but did
some placer mining between seasons
and his diggings are still being work-
ed for copper ore by Vernal people to
keep up the assessments.
“It was thought Jesse Ewing had
plenty of money buried in the hills
where he got the money to pay his
men. And it was whispered that he
was still a member of the James gang
and .stored their loot for them. But
he feared a return to his birthplace
on account of the reward offered for
his capture.
| was married to her with the under-
i standing that her friend Duncan
| should accompany them back to the
i interior.
“Ewing fell for the scheme, wel-
comed them to his castle and for a
time they got along pleasantly. It
{was a pure frame-up by the actress
and her pal to inveigle Ewing into
a trap, then rob him before their
lanned flight. The woman, it later
was learned, was a courtezan and she
conspired with her confederate, Dun-
can, to overpower and kill Ewing, se-
cure his money, then escape.
EWING SHOT IN BACK.
The affair culminated in the shoot-
ing of Ewing in 1886. Details of the
quarrel were never fully known. It
was said Duncan shot Ewing in the
back fearing the vengeance of Ew-
ing’s friends, Duncan hastened to
Vernal, Utah, and gave himself up to
the authorities. He was tried and
acquitted on a plea of self-defense |
He alleged that Ewing attacked him
in close contact. Members of Con-
‘gress, bureau chiefs, foreign diplo-
mats, newspaper correspondents, old
friends are mingled in the groups
which gather about the table at
night. Often celebrities visiting in
Washington are included.
Occasionally the President takes
official members of the group after
dinner to his study to talk with them
about some pending problem. Politics
is not discussed at the dinner table.
Mrs. Hoover takes a lively interest
in conversation at the dinner table.
| Like her husband, she is informed on
‘many topics, not only of general in-
terest, but of special interest. Both
have lived and read widely.
White House dinner invitations
always have been coveted. The course
of history, undoubtedly, has been af-
fected by the influence of such recog-
nition.
This “dinner table” administration
may bring some interesting develop-
‘ ments.
|
eee eee.
EE —._.s eC
with a knife and that Ewing was a |
known bad man who was forced to |
leave Missouri for his knife killings. |
SUPER-BRAINED GOLIATHS.
“With slight rebuttal testimony
and Ewing’s reputation as a knife
| killer, the prosecution made a mere
shadow of a case and the defense at-
{torney had no difficulty in establish-
!ing the innocence of his client accord-
ing to the inexorable law of the
times.
DUNCAN COMMITS SUICIDE.
“As death is often preferable to a
‘ conscience-stricken - being, Duncan
suffered intense agonies of mind dur-
ing his wanderings for two years
following Ewing’s murder. The wo-
{man followed Duncan wherever he
went. It was said that they frequent-
ly quarreled during which she accus-
led him of his foul deed and upbraid- |
{ed him scornfully. Her tirades weigh-
led heavily on his conscience until he
became morose, morbid and melan-
choly to the point of desperation. Her
constant nagging lowered him rapid-
ly.
“She confronted him with the crime
like. a haunting spectre, in an effort
to hold him within her power. She
finally drove him to the rash act of
suicide. He collapsed after sending
a bullet through his body but he did
not die instantly. He lingered for
two hours before death ensued. With
the sands of life ebbing he counted
time; and when convinced that he
could not survive and that death was
certain, he whispered a confession be-
and brutally murdered Jesse Ewing
in cold blood without provocation. He
did not implicate his “Lady Macbeth”
as an accomplice in the killing of
| Ewing. That was the finality to a
dull romance!
“While in Colorado Duncan was
friendly with John Jarvie although
the latter never suspected Duncan of
the conspiracy nor the wilful murder.
“Lou Simmons was another odd
character of those days. Simmons
trapped for Ewing several seasons
and got close to him as any man
could.
“Simmons asserted he was a son
in-law of Kit Carson, heroic figure of
the earlier plains, and took great
pride in boasting of his family con-
nection although he never spoke rev-
erently of his domestic relations for
he evidently had an unhappy union;
and the only eclat Simmons got from
his connubial venture was that his
father-in-law was a famous army
scout and hero of the frontier.”
Thus the “horse-tilities” as they
were called, of that strange and fas-
cinating realm of early days incubat-
ed many a wild character—if it was
tween gasps—that he had wantonly |
Dr. Riddle, head of the Carnegie
Laboratories, proposes to develop a
‘race of super-brained giants vy the
cell manipulation treatment and
‘more or less complicaica process of
feeding.
i The learned doctor believes his
| theory easily possible of demonstra-
| tion—providing men and women will
| deliberately submit themselves to the
necessary scientific treatment—a
highly technical operation that would
make men and women mere tools of
science and as a matter of fact as
prosaic as incubators on a poultry
farm. 3
( Maybe Dr. Riddle is right. Very
‘possibly the things he claims could
happen. But it is a 500 to one shot
| they won't. Human nature would
{ have to differ vastly from its present
‘ state of being before Dr. Riddle could
| make his dream come true.
| Anyway, what would be the ad-
| vantage of being ten feet tall? What
‘good purpose would be served by add-
ing a few cubits to human nature?
{ What economic good would be accom-
plished? Maybe this idea originated
with the shoemakers, the dressmak-
ers, the tailors or wool trust. Per-
haps the grocers’ association is back
of it. But isn’t it hard enough now
to get the money with which fo buy
clothes and food, without adding to
the bills in the way Dr. Riddle pro-
poses? And who would care to in-
vite a ten-foot man and his wife
around to dinner? And what would
we do with all our present buildings,
with folks stooping over to get
through the doors and standing with
their shoulders propped against the
ceiling like Sampson pulling down the
pillars of the Temple? It's sad to
contemplate, but not nearly so tragic
as the fate of one of these new style
Goliaths consigned to a regulation
size hotel bed, or doubled up in a
sleeping car berth.
No, we are afraid it won't do.
‘There are too many obstacles in the
way. And besides, if Dr. Riddle
creates a race of Goliaths, it wou
be just like some other scientist ro
too sorrowful to contemplate.
if Dr. Riddle chooses to turn his at-
tention purely to intellectual develop-
ment, why that would be different. In
this day and generation one need not
be very tall to get on in the world,
but there is beyond doubt ample room
for a campaign for bigger and better
minds.—From the Harrisburg Tele-
graph.
—————————— A ———————
—Subscribe for the Watchman.
FOR AND ABOUT WOMEN.
Daily Thought.
We do ourselves the most good doing
something for others.
—Horace Mann.
April showers may or may not
bring the May flowers that the old
adage promises. But May showers
inevitably bring a lot of gifts that
June brides will appreciate tremen-
dously.
Bridal showers are one tradition
that no one wants discontinued. They
are such fun to get ready. And every-
one enjoys them so much. Perhaps
this pleasure lies in the fact that
showers are essentially intimate. On-
ly friends indulge in them.
thing about them is so personal.
Showers seldom are run as surprise
parties in this modern age. But the
hostess can have a surprise in the in-
genuity with which she presents the
bride-to-be with the gifts. Umbrel-
las above the table that will rain
down lovely trifles are always a pret-
ty and logical decoration. Little place
cards of umbrellas standing on candy
or nut boxes are good with these.
Cornucopias, bells, ships, or other fig-
ures that contain gifts are good, too.
The decorated table in pretty colors
| is usually one main feature of the
shower.
One of the newest showers that de-
mands an especial type of decoration
is the clothes-line shower. Contrary
to the name, it merely means friends
can bring anything that washes and
irons. It is a miscellaneous shower.
A cute way to arrange this is to have
a real clothes line hung across the
dining room, with all the gifts on it.
Place cards, favors, decorations and
everything can play up clothes pins
‘ and other features of wash day. The
bride should be given a clothes bas-
ket to put her gifts into.
A new and very novel shower this
season is the smoking shower. Smok-
ing jackets, lounging pajamas, slip-
pers, ash trays, fancy colored fags,
colored matches, lighters, cigaret
holders and other smoking equipment
is appropriate. Bridge showers are
not so new, but are interesting. Score
pads, cards, bridge table covers, table
number and pencil contrivances, pot-
tery dishes and linen appropriately
decorated with card figures all are
in order.
The beauty shower is acceptable to
most brides. Choice powder, rouge,
lipstick, perfumery, week-end beauty
kits and colored crystal containers
for the dressing table make a very
pretty shower. In matters this
personal, guests should consult the
hostess who will know the bride-to-
be’s favorites in beauty articles.
Bathroom showers are glorious
things today, with the wealth of col-
or and flower things that bathrooms
inspire. Scented salts, delicate per-
fumed soaps, colorful bottles of lo-
tions, pastel shaded towels, washrags
and mats, printed shower curtains
and window curtains, colored ham-
pers and so on are there to choose.
Wardrobe or clothes closet showers
are gala things now, what with little
colored flowers for hatstands, birds
for shoe trees, colored cretonne or
calico for dress, shoe, laundry and
lingerie bags and a multitude of
printed or plain colored boxes for
whatnots. Bcok showers are dan-
gerous unless hostesses know the
bride’s taste in books. Cleaning show-
ers are wonderful if guests club to-
gether and get a vaccum cleaner, and
varieties of brushes and other gad-
gets that are acceptable.
Brides who will live in an apart-
ment house must have especial consid-
eration. A modern shower is good
for them. One guest may bring a
lampshade, others ash trays, vases,
pottery breakfast or tea things, a
footstool, and perhaps a cactus in a
modern dish, trimmed very modern-
ly to represent some -animal. Soft
pillow showers are excellent for the
apartment house bride, provided her
color schemes are known. Colored
linen showers are good for her, too,
with different colored sheets, pillow
cases and towels stressed.
Silver, linen, crystal, kitchen and
all the other old-fashioned showers
are as good now as ever. One simply
buys modern versions.
A new touch to showers this May
is the magic touch of color. Refresh-
ments now match the linen on which
they are served, the candles that
light the tables, the decorative crepe
paper and the ornaments or flowers
that center the table. A green show-
er for instance, may serve for lunch-
eon chicken and green pepper pat-
ties with parsley sprinkled over it all
for color, an avacado salad and pis-
tache ice cream or a mint ice with
cage ice in green and coffee.
Hard seats at football or baseball
games hold no terrors for the person
equipped with a small pneumatic
cushion now on the market, says
Popular Mechanics Magazine. It can
be blown up in a few seconds and,
when deflated, fits in the coat or
trousers pocket.
SWISS STEAK.
Round steak about two inches thick.
Rub with salt and pepper, cover with
flour and pound to get as much flour
as possible into the steak. Treat
both sides the same. Rub with a
little garlic. Melt fat in frying pan
(bacon fat is good) add a sliced onion
and allow it to brown slightly. Set
to one side. Put in the meat and
brown on both sides, add boiling wa-
ter, cover and let simmer 45 minutes
to the pound. About a half pound of
meat is allowed to each portion, but
| this depends on the individual appe-
, tite.
ORANGE PIE.
Squeeze the juice of two large
oranges and grate the rind of one.
create a race of Davids, with results , Add to the rind two tablespoonsfuls |
! size of a walnut, a half cupful of su-
gar and the yolks of three eggs that
have been well beaten. Add to this
{ mixture the: juice of the oranges, a
{ cupful of milk and a very small pinch
of salt, and cook in a double boiler
until thickened. Turn, when cool, in- |
Every-
A ESSER,
FARM NOTES.
| —Dahlias frequently send up shoots
from their roots. These should be
pinched off at the ground line to
throw all the strength into the main.
stalk.
—Spare time used in overhauling
the grain binder before harvest comes
is well spent. A few minutes in re-
pair work now may save both time
and money when the grain is ripe.
—High-producing cows need grain
even when on good pasture. Early
pasture grass is high in protein, so
grain mixtures should not contain
more than 15 per cent protein for
best results.
—The market discriminates very
severely against ram lambs and
against all lambs that have not been
docked. Castrating and docking are
simple operations and easily perform-
ed while the lambs are young.
— Strawberry growing is an im-
vortant part of the home operations.
This fruit yields a large quantity ina
small space and gives quick returns.
Where garden space is limited straw-
berries can be worked in with vege-
‘ ables.
| sn
— Asparagus heads the list of vege-
tables for earliness. This vegetable is
growing rapidly in popularity, the
average having increased four times:
what it was in 1923. It is a sure
crop each spring and is available
every day for a period of 8 to 10
weeks.
|
—From a sanitation standpoint 1t
is far better to place all grain and
mash for chicks in hoppers or boxes
than in litter or on the bare, filthy
ground. Diseases and parasites can
be spread easily through feed which
comes in contact with fifthy litter or:
ground.
— Do not turn cows out to pasture
too soon, say Penn State dairy spe-
cialists. Early pasture grass is very
watery and so is of low food value.
Another reason for delaying is that
pasture yields for the season will be
much greater if the grass is permit-
ted to get a good start.
—Do not attempt to handle soil
when it is too wet. This applies es-
pecially to upland soils which are
rather heavy. Avoid walking on wet
soil either before or after preparing
it for planting. Watch your oppor-
tunity and work soil when it is in
good physical condition.
—Young chicks should be encour-
aged to roost at an early age. The
ckicks will become accustomed to
roosting if a low roost which slopes
from the floor back of the cover to
the house is provided. These roosts
should be covered with wire netting
to keep the chicks from crowding
underneath.
—Fall and winter calves should not
be turned on pasture until after they
are six months of age. Digestive
trouble will be avoided and calves
will grow more satisfactorily if kept
in clean, dry stalls and given good le-
gumes or cut hay, grain and fresh
water in addition to the milk and
calf meal ration.
— Eradication of garlic or wild
onions from pastures is the best way
to prevent disagreeable odors in
milk. State College specialists say
that if cows are removed from onion-
infested pastures at least four hours
previous to milking, there will be
little of the odor and flavor mnotice-
able in the milk.
—To encourage early soring blood
rearing, it is necessary to maintain a
temperature of about 93 degrees
Fahrenheit in the entire brood cham-
ber. Protection from the cold and
winds can be supplied by packing
cases and windbreaks. The protec-
tion should not be removed until after
the last killing frost.
—To distribute good breeding stock
to flocks of the State, pure bred ram
sales will be held druing late summer
and early fall, W. B. Connell, sheer
and wool extension specialist of
State College announces. These events
will occur at Indiana, Titusville
Montrose, Brookville, Smethport, anc
State College. They will be supervis:
ed by country and district’ sheep anc
wool growers’ associations.
Be sure to thin properly all vege:
tables while they are small. Thick
sowing does not mean a larger pro
duction; in fact, a smaller yield maj
be the result. The following distance:
in inches should be maintained: peas
2, beans 4 to 6, beets 4, carrots 3
lettuce 10, spinach 1, and radishes
10 3.
—Thinning will increase the pro
| portion of fancy and high quality
' fruits and will reduce the cost o
| harvesting, grading, and packing.
| —“June bugs” are scheduled to ap
! pear this spring in accordance witl
| their 3-year life cycle. An-abundanc
| of the beetles this year will’ indicat:
an abundance of their young nex
, year— the common white grub o
| “grubworms’ so destructive to sucl
farm crops as corn, timothy, straw
berries, beans, and potatoes. Th
beetles themselves are injurious i
i certain trees, and when abundan
sometimes completely strip the leave
from the trees on large tracts of tim
ber according to the U. S. Depart
i ment of Agriculture.
Entomologists of the Departmen
But | of cornstarch, a piece of butter the make no predictions as to the prob
i able abundance of the beetles thi
year, but it is reasonably certai
they will continue to be exceptional
\y abundant in the infested region
| “ery three years unless killed off b;
their natural enemies, by unfavorabl
climatic conditions. The infeste
to a previously baked pie shell and area includes parts of Minnesota
cover with meringue made from the Towa, South Dakota, Wisconsin, mi
whites of the eggs. Brown slightly nois, Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Penn
in a hot oven. sylvania and New York.