Ligonier Banner., Volume 43, Number 25, Ligonier, Noble County, 10 September 1908 — Page 7

JOIN NENRY nopse gy | HORSE OO | TRADER.

BY GEO. V. HOBART, (“HUGH M’HUGH."”)

Dear Bunch: Your letter from Berlin is here, and after picking all the *Hochs!” and “Gesundheits!” out of it we're hep to the fact that you're both kaving a swell time among the Germans. >

Tell Alice to bring me home a stein —empty. I can get the beer and the “Prosits!” over here. Your German letter having created an atmosphere, it's up to me to tell you about old Elsie Shulz, who is spending a few days at Uncle Peter’s bome across the road. Elsie is a sort of a privileged chajacter in our family, having lived with Aunt Martha for over 20 years as a sort of housekeeper. Yesterday morning, while Peaches and I were at breakfast, Elsie mean-

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dered in, bearing in her hand a wedding invitation which Herman had forwarded to her from Plainfield. Elsie read the invitation. “Mr. and Mrs. Rudolph Ganderkurds request der honor of your presence at der marriage Of deir daughter, Verbena, to Galahad Schmalzenberger, at der home of der pride’s parents, Plainfield, N.J., May first. R.S. V. P” *“Vell,” said Elsie, “I know der Ganderkurds und I know deir daughter Verbena, und I know Galahad Schmalzenberger; he’s a floorwalker in Bauerhaupt’s grocery store, but I doan’d know vot is dot R. S..V. P. yet!” :

I gently kicked Peaches on the instep under the table, and said to Elsie: “Well, that’s a new one on me, also. Are you sure it isn’'t B. & O. or the C. R. R. of N. J.? Those are a couple of railroads in New Jersey, but I never heard of the R. S. V. P..” For the first time in her life since she’s been able to grab a sentence between her teeth and shake the pronouns out of it Elsie was amazed.

She kept looking at the invitation and saying to herself: “R. S. V. P.! Vot is it? I know der honor of your presence; I know der pride’s parents, but I don’t know R. S. V. P.”

All that day Elsie wandered through the house muttering to herself “R. 8. V. P.! Vot is it? Is it some secret between der pride und groom? R. S. V. P.! It ain’d my initials, because dey begin mit E. S. Vot is dot R. S. V. P.? Vot is it? Vot is it?”

That evening we were all at dinner when Elsie rushed in with a cry of joy. “I got it!” she said. “I have untied der meaning of dot R. S. V. P. It means Real Silver Vedding Presents!” : :

I was just about to drink a glass of water, so I changed my mind and near1y choked to death. < Peaches. tried to say something, which resulted in a gurgle in her

& , 1 > - — j A f g}‘ /? NG e N ) '~?&r Y o A 2 A 7 Q e.\ - N /2 5 & \;/9\ -.—-. 1 : _“ - )@ T e e =AY N [T L] i ‘_ \y, k // ' T T \\‘é; b/ 1Y Y S fo— pu (R Jua 0 DI« g PY 271 /\ “Herman ‘Would Yell Whoal” threat; the Swede servant girl rushed out in the kitchen and broke a couple of dishes, while Uncle Peter, who was " dining with us, fell off his chair on the cat which had never done him any harm. ” Elsie’s interpretation of that wedding present is going to set Herman Shulz back several dollars, or I'm ,'hot a foot high. : V This same Herman is a character, by the way, Bunch. He's a horse trader by profession and a con thrower by nature. I must tell you, Bunch, about Her- . man when he lived and flourished in Rochester, N. Y. . A friend of ours named Will Hodge also lived in Rochester at that time, and Will went to Herman to buy a Herman had at this time an old sorrel horse which would never travel over half a mile without balking. ¥ At some remote period of its life ‘the sorrel had been docked, but Herman decided he could sell the horse guicker if it had a long tail, so he glued on a tail which he kept in the barn for this purpose. ~ /Ome of the peculiar features about ~ this old sorrel was the fact that just before he would begin to balk and stop ‘dead in his tracks the right ear would ~"And just before he intended to start ~ again the left ear would fly back and - ‘stand out straight, and all would be B

for home he never stopped, but went like the wind—when it isn’t blowing very hard. ; Well, off goes Will Hodge to Herman Shulz to inquire about a horse, and Herman hitches up the old sorrel. While hitching Herman starts in to explain what a clever old beast the sorrel is, and by the time they get started out of the barn in the buggy Hodge has an idea that he is riding behind Sysonby’s stepbrother.

When they got out about half a mile back went the sorrel’s right ear, and Herman said quickly: “Whoa, whoa, boy! Whoa!” Of course, the old sorrel intended to whoa anyway, but Hodge didn’t know that. :

Then Herman would point at the scenery with the whip and describe it, all the time watching the old sorrel’s left ear for the starting signal. Presently back went the left ear, and then Herman would stop describing the scenery, and with a loud “Geddap!” the old sorrel would start off once more. -

At the end of another half mile back would go the sorrel’s right ear, and Herman would yell “Whoa!” and then say: “Here on the right I wounld like to point out to you the Methodist orphan asylum, and over there is Chase & Pendleton’s - celebrated sash factory. Over there on the left—" - But just then the -sorrel’s left ear would fly back, and Herman would have to say “Ged-dap!” right in

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“Saw a Man Running.” the midst of his description of the scenery. This was kept up about four times, and then all of a sudden Hodge let out a roar. ‘ . “For the love of a kind ' Heaven!” yelled Will, “don’t you know that I came out here to see this horse go and not to listen to your lectures on this bum scenery? . Why, man, I have lived in Rochester all my life and I know all about the sash factories and the orphan asylums, and I am on familiar terms with every bit of scenery you can shake a whip at, so now I will thank you kindly to point the reins of this horse and make him commence.” :

“Ach! oxcoos, oxcoos;” said Herman. “You vish to see him trafel, is it? So! I show you!” :

Then Herman turned the old sorrel around, pointing his nose at the oats in the barn, and the wise old bonerack never stopped running until they were back home. ' Hodge bought the horse "on the strength of that return trip. That afternoon Hodge took the sorrel out for a little exercise. Pretty soon it began to rain, the glue melied, and when Will saw his horse’s tail drop off he nearly fell out of the wagon.

An hour later Herman was sitting in his barn door, when he saw a man running towards him who looked something like Hodge and something like a vigilance committee. : ‘The man had a buggy whip in one hand and a horse’s tail in the other, and he was traveling hell bent for election. s

Herman took one peep at him, then he fell sideways out of the barn win. dow and hid for three days in his cellar. |

I don’t think Will and Herman ever meet, because both of them are still alive and uninjured. Yours for the Germans, : : . JOHN. (Copyright, 1908, by G. W. Dillingham Co.)

Rebuke Humorously Couched.

When E. L. Godkin was editor of the New York Evening Post he was supposed by many to lack a sense of humor. But those in his employ who stood close to him knew better. One morning he sent for his young city editor. :

“Last mnight,” said Mr. Godkin, “I read in the Post an account of the suicide of a boy. Your news paragraph reported the motive that the boy was being resisted at home in a premature inclination to marry. Mr. Blank, can you imagine how that father felt when you accused him, for what was no doubt done in a sense of loving duty, of being the cause of the death of his child?” - :

The young city editor stammered an apology. - “Thank you for your explanation,” said Godkin. “But,” he went on in a more decided tone, “if anytHing like that ever happens again, I will give you faiz warning, sir, that I will leave thig paper!® I will not work for a papet that says things so cruel!” :

Grecian Women Advance a Step.

The chamber of aeputies of Greece has passed a law by which, for. the first time in modern Greece, women are admitted in the public service. In accordance with this law, the director ‘of posts and telegraphs is authorized to employ 50 women, to be used mainly in the telephone service. They are to be between 21 and 35 years ¢ld, and are to receive 70 drachmas (about $13.50) a month, for #ix hours’ work s

HORTICULTURF , 15 BF ,",'L ‘D ' H’” " \-.jv TR e R Q& e TG A Ci WWMM SIMPLE EXTENSION LADDER. How Part of an Old Ladder Can Be . Utilized. I made a ]Pdder extension by sawIng off seven'feet from an old ladder and removing three of the rungs as ghown in the cut, explains a writer .in Farm and Home. Then place it on the outside of the ladder to be lengthened, bore two holes through each side piece, put a bolt in each hole and the ladder is four feet longer. After

’ Handy Extension to the Ladder. using it can be changed to original ilize much quicker than if tied with ropes and it's safer. The top ends of l the ladder should be cut out to receive %'.he lower rung of the extension. il MOVING LARGE TREES. | Man with Experience Tells How It | ' Can Be Done. . ‘ A » | I consider nursery grown trees the | best’ for transplanting because their _roots are more fitted for that purpose, ; and I apply this to the elm as well as ' all other trees. However, natural é trees may be readily fitted for trans- | planting so as to even make their suc- | cess a certainty, but it is only econom- ' ical on large trees, say from three _inches to one foot in diameter. For 'l example, if in our judgment we find it ' necessary to take a ball of dirt about | five feet in diameter and 18 to 24 ‘ inches in depth, along with a certain | iree in transplanting, we may any ! time between leaf dropping in the fall ’ and starting in the spring dig a 'trench around this tree about six inches smaller all around and fill in j aguin after all the detached roots have | been cut smoothly with a knife from ! the bottom up and the tops previously | shortened as above. These smoothly 'l cut roots soon send out a mass of root- ! lets, clinging tightly to the soil that ' we had packed into the trench again, {-and in the coming transplanting seai son between fall and spring we again , dig around-this tree, leaving the ball | as in our first judgment, and plant it lonly a few inches deeper in its new | place. Such trees may safely be | moved during fall and winter when | time is not always as valuable as_in %the spring, while small trees should tonly be planted in the spring, which | is and will remain the best time for | all planting.—Albert Duebendorfer.

FOR MELON GROWERS.

How You Can Tell When a Cantaloupe :Is Ready to Pick.

While it is not a difficult matter to tell when a cantaloupe is ripe, yet it requires considerable skill and experience to be able to judge just the right time or stage at which the ‘melon will ripen nicely and reach the market in good condition. The practice of allowing them to get ripe or yellow on the vines, except in - very cool weather, destroys both the fine flavor and the crisp freshness of the flesh, as well as their ability to stand shipping to market, As soon as the melon begins to ripen, especially of the small fruited kinds, the stems crack slightly away from the melon, and sometimes a few small drops of bright, red juice appears in the cracks, rendering it more noticeable. As soon as this crack appears the melon should be picked and shipped to market. The melons should be picked every morning while it is yet cool, if possible, and on very hot days the patch should be gone over again in the afternoon. They should be picked much closer on a hot day than on a cool one, as the state of the .weather has a direct influence on their ripening—hardly a melon being gathered on a cool day from the same number of hills that would yield a basket full on a hot one. —W. A. Hannelberger. v

Water Proximity to Orchard.

The advantages of a situation bordering a lake are manifold and are generally counted upon by fruit growers as a safeguard against the injurious effects of frost upon flower and leaf buds in the spring and upon maturing fruit, especially grapes, in the autumn. The action is simple. In the spring the water, being cold, is slow to become warm, and thus exercises a chilling effect upon the air of the neighborhood. It thus prevents. the precocious opening of the buds. On the other hand, the water in the autumn, still warm with the remains of summer’s heat, keeps the air warmer than it otherwise would be and thus frequently prevents a dangerous fall of temperature. This effect is also heightened by the presence of water vapor in the air, which, as it condenses as dew, gives off an immense quantity of latent heat—the heat required to keep the water in the form of vapor—that still further warms the air. 5

The Ben Davis Apple.

The Ben Davis apple is being planted, more extensively at the present time than amy other apple. It originated in Kentucky and for many years was planted only in the western states. But now the New England states are plauting it about as extensively as arv. the western states, if we may judge from reports received from ditterent‘ lacations in the east.

Is It Yoy?

if the man who mikes two blades of grass grow where one grew before deserves well ot his fellows, what, asks the Rural New Yorker, is due the man who allows ‘“paint brush,” wild earrot, wil¢ parsnip, etc, to go to seed on his farm, and so spread o the farms of his neighbors who are trving to keep their land clean?” = .

THE ROTTING OF APPLES. Six Principal Kindg of Disease Which

Attack the Fruit.

There are six gprinclpal kinds of rots that attack apples, and perhaps there -are minor ones. These six are the bitter rot, black rot, blue mold, brown rot, pink rot and one that has no English name, but is known only by its scientific name, Alternaria. Blue mold seems to be able to grow at a lower temperature than any of the other molds. Some apples were inoculated with the spores of all these molds and rots and placed in cold storage at just below freezing, 31 degrees. At the end of nine weeks the blue mold had spread in all the apples in which it had been pricked, while none of the other molds had developed at all. | :

This is interesting, as showing what we may expect from fruit kept in cold storage. Its keeping depends largely on whether or not the blue mold has obtained a foothold on the fruit. : On the other hand when the apples that had been| inoculated with the other rots were ‘taken into a living room where the temperature was at 70 degrees, a normal temperature for human beings, all the different molds and rots developed with great rapidity. In two weeks jall of the fruits were half or wholly rotten.

The lesson to be drawn from this, says Farmers’ Review, is that the grower of apples must know something about the different kinds of rot so that he can tellpwhen his fruit is affected. Such affected fruit must be dealt with according to its exposure. If it has become affectéd with blue mold germs it must be put to some immediate use rather than be put into cold storage. | ;

Molds and rots are produced by vegetable organisms that are like plants in that some will grow in one temperature and some in another. However, zlnll of the molds and rots that affect apples will grow at above 45 degrees. Therefore in the ordinary cellar it is impossible to keep fruit that 'has been exposed to any of these rots. |

The germs of the various diseases are not killed by low temperature; they are only reduced to a quiescent state. Therefore when apples that *have become jinoculated by the férms other than blue mold come out of the storage house they begin to develop these rots very rapidly, and the people imagine that the cold storage experience has!the power of making }fruit rot more quickly than it other~wise would. We have probably no 'good reason for believing this.

The least aggressive rot seems to be the pink rot; and apples that have been affected with pink rot before storage will frequently be fit to sell two or three weeks after the apples come out of cold storage. BOXES VS. BARRELS FOR APPLES. Choice of the Package Depends Upon the Demands of the Market. Some time ago when George T. Tippin, secretary of the Missouri State Horticultural society was asked which he considered preferable, boxes or barrels, for packing apples, he replied that whether boxes or barrels were used depended upon the demand of the particular market. He says: During the past few years the box is forcing itself into new markets each year. The labor question is against the box. It takes more labor and better skilled labor than for the barrel. lam in favor of hoxes. Packers cannot counterfeit the packages as they can in the barrel, and this will bring the box into favor. Would like to see the box used for the general package. The disposition of people is to buy in the original package. More is involved in the package than often thought. The fact of the latter question is a serious one, and the lumber question is a serious one, and it iis hard to tell what the outcome will be.

The standard box is 22 inchés by 111%x11%. When properly packed it weighs a bushel. Three bushel boxes run one to three pounds more than a barrel in weight. :

PICKING HIGH FRUIT. Bag Which Will Keep Fruit from Being Bruised. Peacheé, pears, apples, etc., out of reach by ordinary means can be gathered by using the device shown in the - LR, (A SR \l u AL rua /W ¢/ 2/ 1 % : r v [/ o // /7 s 7 “2 % 7Y ,/"\; ; N . /il . /P //’ ; Picker for High Fruit. accompanying illustration, without bruises, says the Prairie Farmer. . Bend a stout wire in.a circle and sew to it a small' hag. Attach the wire to a long ‘pole. This will enable you to pull fruit from the top of a tree without imjuring it. ] HAND PICKED. -The amateur pear planter should stick to the tried varieties. Asparagus culture has been revolutionized. Gardeners now sow the seed in; rows in rich, well prepared land and cultivate it like other ' garden Crops. {0 ’ The’ export of fruit offers much to be hoped for in the future; as the foreign markets are often willing to pay a very high price for American fruits. %5 3 The soil of the orchard needs management just as surely as does the soil of the field in which vegetables are growing. It needs to be kept supplied with the elements of plant food. The stringless bean is'a worthy ad: dition to any garden. Though it be longs to the snap bean family, it is 8 poleclimber. The bean is a purple MOk ee g ePeARU A B b e R

%fi%\mflflflk M= rapM By Wil | - =y

Think right 'if you would walk right. st

Charcoal is good for the hens, especially in hot weather.

Lime wash all the stables. It will make them sweet and clean. - .

- The cleaner the poultry house the less trouble there will be with pests and diseases.

There are always two sides to the farm help question—the help’s side as well as that of the farmer.

Screened stables and generous use of the spray will help you through the summer without much loss in the milk Jow. ;

Den’t get in the habit of dosing your animals. Provide good care and good feed and there will be little need to dope them. . :

Provide good screens for the house if .you have not already done so. The day of the old cloth mosquito netting should be past for most farmers. -

Pigs in the orchard will pick up all the windfalls and perform a double service. . They will destroy the injurious insect life and they will also grow fat on the fruit.

To mark your name upop metal, melt tallow or beeswax upon the tool to te marked, write your name in the tallow or wax, being sure to scratch clear through to the metal surface. Then pour into the letters thus made a few drops of nitric acid. Leave for a few minutes. Then wipe off acid and beeswax or tallow and you will find your tool has your name that won’t come off. ]

The farmer needs to know the plants he would grow as well as the quality cof the =oil he would cultivate. Plants differ widely in composition, range of root, period of growth and in their ability to gather that which they need from the soil. These are facts which a farmer should be familiar with in order that he may intelligently manure the soil and plan the rotation of crops he wishes to follow in a manner that will give the best possible results. .

Wireworms are difficult to get rid of. Prof. Singerland’s experiments at Cornell have shown that salt is effective if used in sufficient quantities, but he found that it would be necessary to use some six to eight tons of. salt per acre to destroy the wire worms, while even a dressing of 1,000 pounds per acre interfered with the germination of wheat, and neither drove the wire worms deeper into the soil nor caused them to migrate to any appreciable distance. @He did find, however, that considerable numbers of the adult beetles were attracted andl destroyed by fresh bunches of clover dipped in strong paris green water. Fall plowing, however, is effective in destroying many of the click beetles, the parents of the wire worms, which hibernate in their pupal cells. On the whole, a short rotation of crops is the only method of control that can be unqgalifiedly recommended —bringing in, wherever possible, a crop on which the pests do not thrive well, as clover. ;

- Here are the views of a western cattleman on dehorning. His rule is to always dehorn in the fall and to never dehorn calves. He goes on to say: “Never breed polled cattle simply to avoid dehorning. If you think the polled breed better than one with horns, then all right, but everyone knows that natural polled cattle are more vicious than horned cattle if the latter are dehorned properly at the right time. Now to the point. Leave the cattle with horns until they learn that they are weapons of defense and offense, then dishorn and have them realize that they have been deprived of the weapons with which they can inflict injury. This will make them tame. Polled cattle are never deprived of any weapons and for this reason are not as void of offense as the ones that have learned to use horns, and are then deprived of them. ' The advantages of dehorned cattle over natural polled stock more than pay for dehorning.”

English dairy experts have just completed experiments which prove that when in good condition a cow will take off her body whatever is deficient in food in order to give her normal quality of milk. That an extra supply of nutritious food at all times increasés the quality of milk, but the percentage of fat is not in any way improved by it; if anything, the tendency being rather the other way. That an extra supply of nutritious food almost invariably increases the solids, not fat, of the milk. ' That a ration poor in food ingredients has a very slight tendency to reduce the solids not fat in milk, hut has little appreciabe effect om the fat. That with a poor ration a cow in full weight will lose carcass weight, while on a rich diet she will get weight. That although the percentage of fat in a cow’s milk may vary daily, we at pres. ent seem unable to control these variations or to ‘account for them. That for limited periods up to one month or thereabouts all ordinary quantities and qualities of foods seem to have

Cleanliness :s essential to stcwcess ful poultry keeping. ;

Sunlight is a great germ killer. Let lots of it into the stables.

When in doubt what to do it is generally better to do nothing.

Scatter the feed for the fowls so that all will have an equal chance at getting a meal.

A sunbonnet or damp sponge on the /horse’s head will prevent sunstroke, a thing they are very liable to.

The caution to keep the pens and sleeping places of the hogs is specialiy important at this season of the year.

'Know the markets in which you expect to market your goods. This is especially important to the farmer that sells butter.

In estimating the profit returned by sheep you ‘want to remember that the manure dropped by the sheep is about three times as valuable as that from COWS. :

Tie your wool with wool twine and be on the safe side, for buyers are holding pretty strictly to the rule that they will not touch wool that has been tied with binder twine. :

Scrape off the old bark from the old apple trees. A dull hoe is the thing and if you wait until a wet day the bark will come off easily. Be careful not to injure the underlayer of live bark.

Stomach worms are a dangerous trouble with lambs at this season of the year. Several government bulle: tins dealing with the pest fave been issued. Write for them. They are free for the asking.

Horses are foundered by letting them drink when heated and then permitting them to stand. Let them have a few swallows at a time:and keep them moving until they have coled off. Y '

A cream thermometer costs but little but its convenience in accurately telling you the temperature of the cream is almost inestimable, for the quality of the butter made and the ease with which it is churned largely depend upon having the cream at the right temperature when beginning operations.

Like the leaves on the trees the fake schemes are seemingly numberleas. Keep your eyes peeled fot them. Bon’t get taken in. One of the ways of defrauding has been by means of the fraudulent ‘“contract” or “agreement” or ‘“purchase order,” which, “when cut in two, becomes a good, bankable note or promise to pay. They are cleverly worded and look harmless. There’s only one sure safeguard against them—do not sign your name on any paper presented by a stranger. 5

A draught of cool water is refreshing when working in the fields. Makes you feel like taking a fresh grip on the work. Don’t you suppose. the horses would feel the same way? When it comes to working hard in warm weather hauling heavy loads or pulling the binder an occasional drink of water would cool their systems and refresh their energy as mych as it stimulates you. “It is not supposed, however,” cautions Prof. C. Minkler, that any horseman will allow his team to tank up on cold water when in a very heated state; but it is reasonable to expect him to allow them the privilege of taking a few swallows to quench their thirst, and drive the burning impulses away. ,

A decade or so ago growers of ap ples did not have much competition from the banana business, which now equals 60,000,000 bunches — a year To-day our orchardist are also compet: ing with Spanish grapes, importations of which exceeded 1,000,000 barrels last year. California, Porto Rico, Florida, Cuba and Jamaica supply our citizens with millions of boxes 'of oranges each season. The immense quantity of dried prunes, peaches, apricots, increased production of pears, all over the United States, also enter into competition with-the apple grower. In view of this competition the apple growers will have to pay more attention to the cultivation of the proper sorts, keep their fruit from worms and scale, and pick and pack them in a proper manner, or else they will haye to confine their attention to local markets and to the evaporator, cider and vinegar maker.

Here is encouragement for the holder of small farms in this country, showing what profit can be made by intensive methods. H. D. Jones in Technical World Magazine ° tells the story of two women who leased five acres of land in Berkshire, England. Later they found that five acres was too much land, and. that they could find full work for themselves and for students who flocked to them to learn how it was done, with profit fqr all, op a piece of ground less than half the size Qt that first taken. The teachers of the women were a French gardener and his family, who, with an acre of 14nd in France, sold $2,500 worth of produce in a year. The scene at the farm is thus described by one who vis. ifed it. In a bare plowed field stands a square palisade of zinc plates inclosing about three-quarters of an acre. Behind it the French gardener and the women who lease the land have wrought what looks like a sheer miracle to anyone unacquainted with the system. The ground is all covered with inverted bell glasses of the kind known in Europe as clochers. Under ‘each bell at the time this writer visit: ‘ed the farm were five lettuces. - Let: tuces were growing around the bells ‘and other vegetables sown broadeast ‘Were comiftg up everywhere. In each of a number of frames four feet square were 30 lettuces, a masa of carrots and caulifiower. The 'entire secret of the growth of these jroducts | ‘before the regular season is in the cropping ant the soil. Every inch of Char e e

THE LAND OF GRAIN

e JAMES OLIVER CURWOOD

Author of “American Farmers Building a New Nation in%Rhe North”— “Canada—The Land of Greater Hope”—*“The Invasion of Canada by American Farmers"—-e“A? Thousand Miles on Horseback Across the Dominion Provinces,” Etc.,, Etc. i

Notso very many years ago the majorIty of people in the United States laughed at the prediction that the day was coming when Western Canada would far outstrip this country in the raising of grain—when, in other words, it would become the great bread-basket of the world. During the past three or four years the enormous production of grain in the Dominion West has thinned the ranks of those who doubted the destiny of Canada’s vast grain growing regions; the crops of this yearwilldispel the doubts of the remaining few. From Winnipeg westward to the foothills of Alberta, over a country nearly a thousand miles in width, the grain production this year will be something to almost stagger the belief of those hundreds of thousands of American farmers whose average yield is not more than from ten to fifteen bushels of wheat to the acre, and who are finding that their product is also outclassed in quality by that of their northern neighbors. : : The enormous grain crop of this year in the Canadian West may truthfully be said to be the production of “a few pioneers.” Only a small percentage of the unnumbered millions of acres of grain land are under cultivation‘ notwithstanding the- fact that tens of thousands of homesteads were taken up last year. And yet, when all the figures are in, it will be found that the settlers of the western prairies have raised this year more than 125,000,000 bushels of wheat, 100,000,000 bushels of oats and 25,000,000 bushels of barley. It has been a “fortune making year” for thousands of American farmers who two or three years ago owned hardly more than the clothes upon their backs, and whose bumper crops from their' homesteads will yield them this season anywhere from $1,500 to $2,500 each, more money ‘than many of them have seen at one ltime in all their lives.

Very recently I passed through the western provinces from Winnipeg to Calzgary, and in the words of a fellow passenger, who was astonished by what he saw from the car windows in Manitoba, we were, metaphorically speaking, in a “land of milk _and honey.” The country was oné great sweep of ripening grain. In fact, so enormous was the crop, that at the time there were grave doubts as to the possibility of GETTING ENOUGH BINDER TWINE TO SUPPLY THE DEMAND. A situation like this has nevar before been known in the agricultural history of any country. \

Before I made my first trip through the Dominion west I doubted very much the stories that I had heard of this so-called “grain wonderland” across the border. I believed. as unnumbered thousands of others believed, that the stories were circulated mostly to induce immigration. I quicky found that I was wrong. As one Alberta farmer said to me a few weeks ago, “If the whole truth were told about this country I don’t suppose you could find one American in ten who would believe it.” ;D This year the prospects the wheat crop of Saskatchewan, Manitoba and Alberta are an average of over TWENTY-FIVE BUSHELS TO THE ACRE, and that this grain is far superior to that raised in the states is proved by our own government statistics, which shcw that American millers are importing millions of bushels of B “Canadian hard” to mix with the home product in order that THIS HOME PRODUCT MAY BE RAISED TO THE REQUIRED STANDARD. It is a peculiar fact that while the Dominion Government is anxious for its western provintes to fill up with the very best of immigrants, there has been no blatant or sensational advertising of those lands. For this reason it is probable that not one American farmer out of fifty knows that Canada wheat now holds the world’s record of value—that, in other words, it is the best wheat on earth, and that more of it is grown. to the acre than anywhere else in the world.

A brief study of climatic conditions, and those things which go to make a climate, will show that the farther one travels northward from the Montana border the milder the climate becomes—up to a certain point. In other words, the climate at Edmeonton, | Alberta, is far- better than. that of Denver, 1,500 miles south; and while thousands of cattle and sheep are dy- | ing because of the severity of thel winters in Wyoming, Montana and other western states, the cattle, sheep and horses of Alberta GRAZE ON THE RANGES ALL WINTER WITH ABSOLUTELY NO- SHELTER. This is all largely because sea-currents and air-currents bave to. do with the making of the climate of temperate regions. For instance, why is it that California possesses such a beautiful climate, with no winter at all, while the New England states on a parallel with it have practically six months of winter out of twelve? ~ It is because of that great sweep of warm water known as the “Japan current,” and this same current not only affects the westernmost of the Dominion provinces, but added to its influence are what are known as the “chinook winds”—steady and undéviating air-currents which sweep over the great wheat regions of Western Canada. There are good scientific reasons why these regions are capable of producing better crops than our own western and central states, but | best of all are the proofs of it in actual resuits. This year, for instance, as hign as one hundred bushets of oats to the acre will be gathered in Maxiloba, Saskatchewas, nd Alberta, though ‘of course this is an unusual| fi sl :fil{fg{,%@%fi@%fia\g Bk g‘m{ r@ffié—;fipfiw&j

this is Alberta’s banner year in graln production, as it is Saskatchewan's and Marnitoba's, and from figures al ready in it is estimated that Alberta’s wheat will yield on an average of THIR-TY-FIVE BUSHELS TO THE ACRE. In many parts of the provinee returns will show a yield of as high as FIFTY bushels to the acre and it is freely predicted by many that when the official figures are in a yield of at least forty-five instead of thirty-five bushels to the acre will be shown. ‘r At the time of my last journey ‘through the Canadian West, when my purpose was largely to secure statistical matter for book use, I solicited letters from American settlers in all parts of the three provinces, and most ‘of these make most interesting reading. The letter was written by A. Kal tenbrunner, whose postoffice address ! is Regina, Saskatchewan.

“A few years ago,” he says, “T took up ‘a homestead for myself and also one for my son. The half section which we own is between Rouleau and Drinkwater, adjoining the Moosejaw creek, and is a low, level and heavy land. Last year we put in 100 acres of wheat which went 25 ‘bushels to the acre. Every bushel of it was ‘No. 1. That means the best wheat that can be raised on earth—worth 90 cents 2 bushel at the nearest elevators. We also threshed 9,000 bushels of :first class oats out of 160 acres. Eighty acres was fall plowing AND YIELDEL NINETY BUSHELS TO THE ACRE. We got 53 cents a bushel clear. Al our grain was cut in the last week of the month of August. We will make more money out of our crops this yea: than last. For myself, I feel com pelled to say that Western Canads crops cannot be checked, even by un usual conditions.” .

An itemized account shows a single ° year’s earnings of this settler and his son to be as follows: 2,500 bushels of wheat at 90 cents mbushel. ..ot sL ST 9,000 bushels of oats a2t 53 cents a- dbushel ... i G viis b 4700 Potal: .0 -oL BT O It will be seen by the above thal = this man’s oat crop was worth twice as much as his wheat crop. While the provinces of western Canada will for all time to come be the world's greatest wheat growing regions, oats are running the former grain a close race for supremacy. The soil and climatic conditions in Manitoba, Sas katchewan and Alberta are particularly favorable to-the production of oats, and this grain, like the wheat, runs a far greater crop to the acre than in even the best grain preducing states of the union. Ninety bushels to the acre is not an unusual yield, whole homesteads frequently running this average. And this #s not the only advantage Western Canada oats have” over those of the United States, ‘for In weight they run between forty and fifty pounds to the bushel, while No. 1 wheat goes to sixty-two- pounds tc the bushel. In fact, so heavy is Canadian grain of all kinds, and espe cially the wheat, that throughout thewest one will see cars with greai placards upon them, which read: °

’ “This car is not to be filled to ca pacity with Alberta wheat.” ' When I made my first trip through the Canadian West a few years ago I found thousands of settlers living in rude shacks, tent shelters and homes of logs and clay. Today one will find these old “homes” scattered from Manftoba to the Rockies, but they are no longer used by human tenants Modern homes have taken their place —for it has come to be a common saying in these great grain regions that, “The first year a settler is in the land he earns a living; the second he has money enough to build himself a modern home and barns; the third he is independent.” And as extreme as this statement may seem - to those hundreds of thousands of American farmers who strive for a meager existence, it is absolutely true. I am an American, as patriotic, I believe, as most ot our people—but even at that I cannot but wish that these people, whose lives are such an endless and unhappy grind, might know -of the new life that is awaiting 'them in this last great west—this “land of greater hope,’ where the farmer is king, and where the wealth all rests in his hands. As one American farmer said to me, “Ti is hard to pull up stakes and mové a couple of thousand miles.” And so it is—or at least it appears to be. But in a month it can be done. And the first vear, when the new settier reaps a greater harvest than he has ever possessed before, he will rise with 200,000 others of his people in Western Canada and thank the gow ernment that has given him, free jof cost, 4 new life, 2 new home, and new hopes—which has made of him, ‘imn fact, “A. man among men, a POSSEssor of wealth among his people.” The people of Paris, 2,714,000, could stand on 0.29 of a square mile, and the population of Chicago on about 0:22 of a square mile. Skl Lewis’ Single Binder costs more than other- 5¢ cigars. Smokers know whr. Your dealer or Lewis” Factory, Peoria, lil e S e It takes a woman with sound judg-ment-to generate silence. s gt & s 3 - Mrs. Winslow’s Soothing Sy T o Pride and prejudice make au unsatisfactory pair to draw to. e T A woman is known by the acquaintances she cuts. : N (A o U et ¥V .LUB"B B B - | L % - ri‘r-’: \ =g b i i