Evening Republican, Volume 20, Number 124, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 24 May 1916 — Page 3

HANDICRAFT FOR BOYS AND GIRLS

By A. NEELY HALL and DOROTHY PERKINS

A HOMEMADE DESK WITH A PICTURE SCROLL. Every boy can own a desk, because It is one of the simplest pieces of furniture to build. I have designed a great many desks for boys to make, but I believe that the one shown in Fig. 1 will be the most popular yet. This desk is made out of a small packing-case, or a grocery box. Select the best-looking box you can find. Get

the cover boards, too, because ,you will need them for the hinged dropleaf. The first thing to do is t© reenforce the nailing ot any boards which show signs of coming loose. Then prepare the pigeonhole partitions. Fig. 2 shows the inside of the desk. Partitions A should be fastened seven Inches each side of the center of the length of the box, or 14 inches apart, and shelves B should be so spaced that there will be a small top and bottom pigeonhole and a larger one between. Holes C in partitions A (Fig. 3) are provided for the rollers of the scroll to turn in. Bore the upper one about three inches below the upper end of A, and place the lower one ten inches or so below it. Nail partitions A to the end of shelves B; then stand these assembled pieces in the box, set a temporary brace between partitions A to hold them in the right position, and drive nails through the ends of the box into shelves B,

and through the top and bottom of the box into the ends of partitions A. Cut the scroll rollers D (Figs. 5 and 6) from pieces of broom-handle, a trifle shorter than the distance between the partitions A, and get four large spools, such as crochet-cottoif comes on, for the end knobs E (Figs. 5 and 6). Rollers D turn on the nail .pivots F (Fig. 6), which must be long enough to run through the spool knobs E, through holes’ C in partitions A, and half an inch into the ends of the rollers. The spools must fit tightly on the nails. Wrap nails F with .paper, and then coat the paper with glue so the spools will stick fast. A tough wrapping-paper should be used for the scroll. Perhaps you can find a store dealer who has a roll of paper from which you can get the length you want in one piece. Tack the ends of this paper to the scroll rollers (Fig. 7). Be careful to get the

ipaper square on the rollers, so It will roll up evenly. The pictures should be put on before the scroll is pivoted 'ln the desk. Cut out and paste these lln place. Fig. 4 shows how the box-cover boards are fastened together by means of the end battens G,‘and how the pair of hinges are placed for hinging this drop-leaf to the desk.- To {support the outer edge of the dropdeaf, when the desk is open, a pair of chains must be provided. Screw screw-eyes into the drop-leaf and the (Other side of the desk, to attach the chains to. Putty all joints and nail holes. Then « coat of stain, or two coats of paint or white-enamel, will complete the desk. By screwing a pair of screwbyes into the top, the desk may be suspended from a picture-molding; or it may be hung upon a pair of long hnolra screwed into the wall. '•

(Copyright, by A. Neely Halt)

HOME-MADE CANDLE STICKS. The candle stick in Fig. 1 has a base made of a small cardboard box (Fig. 2). In this box is fitted a piece of cardboard having its edges turned

down and a hole cut through its center to receive a candle (Fig. 2); glue the turned down edges to the sides of the box. Fig. 3 shows hoy to fold p cardboard strip for the handle. One end of this is stuck through a slot in one side of the box and is glued to the box bottom; the other end .4s slipped into the box and glued to the side. The candle stick in Fig. 4 is of a more ornamental design. A pill box forms the top. Fig. 5 shows how a hole is cut through the center of the box bottom for the candle to slip through, also how slots are cut through the bottom to receive the ends of the four supports. A pattern for the supports is shown in Fig. 6. Fig. 4 shows the relative proportions of the box top and the supports. The two slots A (Fig. 6) are provided for the cross strips to stick through. Fig. 4 shows how these cross strips connect and brace the supports. The upper .pair of braces support the candle. Glue the ends of the crosspieces in slots A, and glue one crosspiece to the other at their intersection. In Fig. 1 we have a candle stick with a simple shade. The base is a small cardboard box, turned bottom side up (Fig. 8). The center post mounted upon the base is in reality a

sleeve fits over the lower part of the candle (Fig. 9). This post is folded out of one piece of cardboard, and a flap is provided on one edge to lap and glue to the other edge. The top cap projects over the sides of the support all around, and has a hole cut through its center large enough for the candle to slip through. This post is glued to the center of 4.be base, and is braced with the candle stick handles (Fig. 10). After preparing the handles, cut the two pair of slots A and B (Fig. 8) through the base, for the handle ends to stick through. Glue the inner upright of each handle to the candle post, glue the end of the outer upright to the ends of the box, and glue the end of the inner upright to the box bottom. The candle shade is made of a band of cardboard bent into a ring and covered with a strip of paper that has been slashed along its edges (Fig. 11) to form fringe. Red paper will look

best for the covering. The supports for the shade are a pair of cardboard strips (Fig. 12). Glue the upper end of these to the inside of the shade; stick the lower end through a pair of slots in the base (C, Fig. 8) and glue to the box aides.

THE EVENING REPUBLICAN, HENSSELAFR. IND.

FEEDS TO INCREASE PERCENTAGE OF FAT

There are yet many who wholly misunderstand the question as to what effect feed fed to cows has on the qualitv of milk produced. By quality we mean the amount of butterfat, says a writer in an exchange. Some feeds affect the flavor of milk and possibly to a slight extent Its color. Feeds rich in protein, It Is long known, have a tendency to Increase the percentage of fat In some animals bjit not in others. The milk-producing function of the cow is to a large extent under the control of the nervous system. Anything that disturbs the quiet or normal condition of the animal, whether it be

APPLY INSECTICIDE MATERIALS AT ONCE

List of Efficient and Dangerous Combinations Prepared by New York Station. Now that one has to fight the codling moth, the San Jose scale, canker worms, plant lice and other insects, besides the apple scab and other fungous diseases, it is advisable to apply two or three materials at the- same time. Certain materials can be mixed together with safety, while others in combination either lose their efficiency due to chemical changes, or they may prove Injurious to the tree. It is important, therefore, to know what ones can be mixed safely. The following list has been prepared at the New York experiment station: Better results are obtained by mixing parts green or arsenate of lead with bordeaux mixture than by applying them separately. a Properties are not changed by mixing lead with tobacco or bordeaux, lime sulphur with tobacco, soap with tobacco or emulsions. Efficient and nonlnjurlous are lead with lime sulphur, soap with tobacco. Inefficient, but nonlnjurlous are lime sulphur with soap, acids or emulsions. Safe and efficient triple combinations axe lime sulphur, lead and tobacco; bordeaux, lead and tobacco. Dangerous combinations are parts green with lime sulphur, soaps or emulsions; arsenate of lead with soaps, emulsions, or alkalies; emulsions with lime sulphur, zinc arsenite, or arsenite of lime with lime sulphur, soaps or emulsions; arsenate of lead or parts green, with soda or potash sulphides, soaps or emulsions.

PLAN FOR FEEDING MILK TO CHICKENS

Methods Employed in Connecticut Egg-Laying Contest Are Briefly Outlined. So many inquiries have been made regarding the exact method of feeding milk to hens that it seems fitting to desert be briefly the plan employed in the Connecticut egg-laying contest. There are five experimental groups, in each group two pens. In each case the pen having the odd number is fed the regular contest ration, the pens with the even numbers receiving exactly the same rations, with the single exception that thick, sour, leppered or clabbered skim milk is substituted for the meat part of the mash. The milk pens have water just as the others do, and in addition to this, all the thickened milk they care to consume. It is found that each ten birds will eat on an average from one to two quarts a day. Storrs station has not only been trying the use of milk as a ration on its experimental pens in the laying contest, but has also been using milk for growing chicks for the past three years. The data thus collected, with results of work done at other experiment stations, point to the fact that milk as a ration fbi* chicks and for laying hens has a very definite feeding value.

Good Strain of Seed.

Be sure to get a good strain of seed, especially of cabbage, tomato, and onion seed. The rule also applies to florist plants, such as pansies, verbenas, and petunias.

Not Good for Orchard.

Close pasturing all of the season is not good for an orchard. The tramping of animals about the trees, especially in wet time, is harmful to the orchard.

Fine Type for Dairy Herd Head.

rough usage, extremes of temperature, or aught else, will have its effect upon the quality. On the other hand, plenty of the right kind of feed increases the quantity of milk until the animal reaches the maximum production. We have yet to hear of any feed or system of feeding that so improves the quality of milk as to make a given quantity of milk produce more butterfat at one time than another. Of course, the greater the quantity of milk, the more cream there will be. It is simply common sense to know which cows are profitable. Testing Is the only way to find out

SIX-YEAR CABBAGE TEST OF INTEREST

Practically No Difference Shown in Yield Between the Small and Large Plants. When seed is sown either in drills or broadcast, some of the seedlings will make a more rapid growth than others. Because of the belief that larger plants possess some inherent characteristics which enable them to outdistance their neighbors, thus becoming superior, many cabbage growers discard a number of plants which are under size. , -An experiment, which has been conducted for six years at the Pennsylvania State college school of agriculture and experiment station to determine the variation in yield and productiveness between large and small cabbage plants, showed that there was practically no difference in this respect, regardless of whether the grading was done at the time of the first transplanting or when the field planting was made. There was approximately an inch of difference in the height of the plants at the time of making the field planting, which soon disappeared.

STRAW VALUABLE AS A SOIL FERTILIZER

Farmers Are Urged to Make More Extensive Use of It as Bedding and Feed. A large amount of straw is shipped from a county in Missouri to a nearby paper and strawboard factory. This straw brings the farmer about 50 cents per ton. A county agent recently found a pile of about 1,000 tons at Sikeston ready for shipment He computes that as a fertilizer this straw is worth $2.50 per ton, in addition to its value as a means of adding organic matter to the soil. He is making a campaign of the county in an attempt to show the inadvisability of the farmers selling their straw and urging its more extensive use as bedding in stables and feed lots. Straw used as a top dressing on fall wheat has been found to practically insure a good stand of clover on lands where clover is otherwise grown with great difficulty.

COUPLE OF REASONS FOR GROWING SEED

From $1.25 to $2.50 Per Pound Saved—Chance to Cultivate Own Variety. There are a couple of reasons for raising your own onion seed. Onion seed costs from $1.25 to $2.50 per pound. It could be saved with very little trouble. One has a chance to cultivate a variety of his own and establish a reputation as a seed producer, which, in years to come, may bring more ready money than the onions he raised. ■ At screening time in the fall, pick out the most solid, globe-shaped, deeply colored onions of whatever varieties you want for your next crop. Large mate the seed required to sow your crop. It takes 4% to 5 pounds to the acre and one bushel of onions will pro duce three pounds of seed on an average. Always sow a few more for safety.

Common America Birds

Kingbird (Tyrannus tyrannus) Length, about eight and one-half Inches. The white lower surface and white-tipped tall distinguish this flycatcher.— Range: Breeds throughout the Unitad States (except the southwestern part) and southern Canada; winters from Mexico to South America. Habits and economic status: The kingbird is a pronounced enejny of hawks and crows, which it vigorously attacks at every opportunity, thereby affording efficient protectlpn to nearby poultry yards and young chickens at large. It loves the open country and is especially fond of orchards and trees about farm buildings. No less than 85 per cent of its food consists of insects, mostly of u a harmful nature. It eats the common rose chafer or rose bug, and more remarkable Still it devours blister beetles freely. The bird has been accused of eating honeybees to an injurious extent, but

there Is little ground for the accusation, as appears from the fact that examination of 634 stomachs showed only 61 bees in 22 stomachs. Of these 51 were useless drones. On the other hand, it devours robber flies, which catch and destroy honeybees. Grasshoppers and crickets, with a few bugs and some cutworms, and a few other insects, make up the rest of the animal food. The vegetable food consists of fruit and a few seed?. The kingbird deserves full protection.

Nighthawk (Chordeiles virginianus) Length, ten inches. Not to be confused with the whippoorwill. The latter lives In woodland and is chiefly nocturnal. The nighthawk often flies by day, when the white bar across the wing and its nasal cry are distinguishing. Range: Breeds throughout most of the United States and Canada; winters in South America. Habits and economic status: The skillful evolutions of a company of nighthawks as the birds gracefully cleave the air in Intersecting circles Is a sight to be remembered. So expert are they on the wing that no insect is safe from them, even the swift dragonfly being captured with ease. Unfortunately their erratic flight tempts men to use them for targets, and this inexcusable practice is seriously diminishing their numbers.

which is deplorable, since no birds are more usefuL This species makes no nest, but lays its two-spotted eggs on the bare ground, sometimes on the gravel roof of the city house. The nighthawk is a voracious feeder and is almost exclusively insectivorous. Some stomachs contained from 30 to 50 different kinds of insects, and more than 600 kinds have been identiflqri from the stomachs thus far examined. From 500 to 1,000 ants are often found in a stomach. Several species of mosquitoes, including Anopheles, the transmitter of malaria, are eaten. Other well-known pests destroyed by the nighthawk are the Colo?ado potato beetle, cucumber beetles, chestnut, rice, clover-leaf and cotton-boll weevils, billbugs, bark beetles, squash bugs, and moths of the cotton worm.

Mvrtle Warbler Length, five and one-half inches. The similarly colored Audubon’s warbler has a yellow throat Instead of a white one. Range: Breeds throughout most of the forested ar** W Canada and south

Interesting inform mation about them supplied by the Bureau of Biological Survey of the L United States of

to Minnesota, Michigan, New York, and Massachusetts; winters in the southern two-thirds of the United States and south to Panama. Habits and economic status: This member of our beautiful wood warbler family, a family peculiar to America, has the characteristic voice, coloration, and habits of its kind. Trim of form and graceful of motion, when seeking food it combines the methods of the wrens, creepers, and flycatchers. It breeds only in the northern parts of the eastern United States, but in migration it occurs in every patch of woodland and is so numerous that it is familiar to every observer.

Its place is taken in the West by Audubon’s warbler. More than threefourths of the food of the myrtle warbler consists of insects, practically all of them harmful. It is made up of small beetles, including some weevils, with many ants and wasps. This bird is so small and nimble that ft successfully attacks Insects too minute to be prey for larger birds. Scales and plant lice form a very considerable part of its diet. Flies are the largest item of food; in fact, only a few flycatchers and swallows eat as many flies as this bird. The vegetable food (22 per cent) is made up of fruit and the seeds .of poison oak or ivy, also the seeds of pine and of the bayberry.

Yellow-Billed Cuckoo (Coccyzus amerlcanus) Length, about twelve inches. The yellow lower part of the bill distinguishes this bird from its near relative, the black-billed cuckoo. Range: Breeds generally in the United States and southern Canada; winters in South America. Habits and economic status: This bird lives on the edges of woodland, in groves, orchards, parks, and even in shaded village streets. It is some-

times known as rain crow, because its very characteristic notes are supposed to foretell rain. The cuckoo has sly, furtive ways as it moves among thd bushes or flits from tree to tree, and is much more often heard than seen. Unlike its European relative, it does not lay its eggs in other birds’ nests, but builds a nest of its own. This is, however, a rather crude and shabby affair—hardly more than a platform of twigs sufficient to hold the greenish eggs. The cuckoo is extremely useful because of its insectivorous habits, especially as it shows a marked preference for the hairy which few birds eat. One stomach that was examined contained 250 American tent caterpillars; another, 217 fall webworms. In places where tent caterpillars are abundant they seem to constitute a large portion of the food of this and the black-billed cuckoo.

No Commendation.

"You seem to think a great deal of that candidate.” “How do you arrive at that conclusion?” asked Senator Sorghum. “Why, you have always supported him:” ‘ ~ ■, "Yes; but a public man's attitude toward a candidate may b*» that ot the family toward the head of the house. You don’t necessarily think any more of a man because you’ve port him."