I
FRENCH LADS RETURN FROM GERMAN BONDAGE
EASTERN FARMERS PRACTICE EFFICIENT
HUSBANDRY IN CONSERVING PLANT FOOD
REDUCE WASTE BY CANDLING
f
Difficulty in Determining Q uality of
Certain Classes of Eggs in Com
mercial Plants.
(Prepared by the United States Depart
ment o f Agriculture.)
Held prisoner by the German Invaders and compelled under threat o f severe punishment to labor unceasingly for
four years In the rear o f the enemy lines, these French lads, released under the terms of the armistice, are returning to
their homes In France. Their belongings, plied high on a wagon "which-they commandeered, have been pulled for miles.
HOTEL IN GERMANY USED BY U. S. AS HOSPITAL
This hotel, which Is in German evacuated territory. Is Is being used by the Americans as a hospital. It Is being
managed by the One Hundred and Thirty-eighth field hospital unit and the men are recuperating rapidly, being
given plenty of air and sunshine. The One Hundred and Twenty-eighth field artillery regiment hand is seen In the
foreground entertaining the wounded.
LADY TOVVNSHEND
Although the candling method o f de
termining the quality o f eggs In the
shell is the best kuown fo r commercial
grading, recent investigations conduct
ed by theffJnlted States department o f
agriculture show that one group o f
eggs o f inferior quality cannot be de
tected by this system, and that it is
inadequate In grading still another
group. The Investigations, reported In
Department Iiulletin 702, show that ex
perienced eandlers and those using ex
treme care do not make many mis
takes In grndlng eggs. Eggs with green
whites and those having a normal ap
pearance but had odors are not recog
nizable by candling. W ld je rots, more
i particularly mixed rots, eggs with
yolks slightly stuck to the shell, blood
i rings and eggs with bloody whites are
not always detected, and are Included
| in the group most frequently mlscan-
dled by Inexperienced or cureless work-
\ men. Eggs with brown shells or light-
colored yolks make detection between
| good and bad specimens more diffi
cult.
In the studies with skilled eandlers,
who candled a number o f cases o f 30
dozen eggs each, the average propor
tion o f bad eggs mlscandled per ease
varied from 0.2 in spring firsts to 10.77
in very low grade cold-storage eggs.
The percentage o f bad eggs which
could not be found by recandling
ranged from none to 0.93 per cent per
case and depended on the grade o f the
eggs examined.
In the commercial
candling o f 128,5.87 eggs, 5,989 bad
eggs were found, o f which 71.05 per
cent were recognized by enndling and
the balance, or 28.35 per cent, were
not found until the eggs were opened
and examined Individually. Then It
was observed that the 28.35 per cent
was divided between a group o f 17.02
per cent bad eggs, which In many in
stances ore distinguishable by enn
dling, and a second group o f 11.33 per
cent consisting o f types of bad eggs
which cannot be discovered until the
eggs are broken.
.The accuracy o f candling depends
upon the quality o f the eggs and the
skill o f the cnndler, according to the
bulletin. In plants having poor man
agement and poor eandlers the number
o f good eggs In the discard sometimes
reached 11 dozen to the case. The en-
WOMEN’S RADIO CORPS MEMBERS
Manure Spreader Cauies Uniform Distribution of Fertilizer.
(Prepared by the United States Depart Is being removed, and partly by ab
ment o f Agriculture.)
sence o f dry combustion, or “ firefang,"
Farmers who are confronted with
the problem o f maintaining soil fertil
ity— Important in carrying out in
creased food production— w ill find It
profitable, the United States depart
ment o f agriculture suggests, to study
the methods o f handling barnyard ma
nure practiced In parts o f eustern
Pennsylvania, where excellent results
in adding to crop ylelds-have been se
cured. These methods are described In
Farmers’ Bulletin 978, recently pub
lished by the department. For over a
century It has been the custom In this
region to store stuble - manure In a
walled manure yard, partly or wholly
covered, in which the stabled animals
are allowed to exercise during the duy.
Manure thrown Into such a yard and
thoroughly tramped by stock, accord
ing to the department’s bulletin, loses
much less through heating and leach
ing thain does manure piled in the
open.
Accumulates in Yards.
N early all manure produced on the
farms In the region to which the bul
letin refers accumulates in the manure
yards. A ll cornstalks, straw and other
roughage not used as bedding are add
ed as needed to take up excess liquids.
In this way the covered portion o f the
barnyard not only affords a dry and
comfortable shelter fo r the live stock
during the winter months, but it pro
tects the manure so that no leaching
occurs. In some Instances the corn
fodder is run through a cutter, which
Increases its power o f absorption and
makes the manure easier to handle.
The tramping o f the stock packs the
manure, so that an even temperature
Is obtained, which seems to favor
proper fermentation, as Is evidenced
partly by the strong odor o f ammo
nia In the vicinity «h e n the manure
so common in manure piles exposed
to the weather.
Occasionally a farmer Is found who
sprinkles land plaster on the manure
at Intervals, the amount ranging from
one to two tons a year, applied at the
rate of a bushel a week. Disinte
grated feldspar rock, common in the
vicinity, has been used with good e f
fect, but as a general thing the ma
nure Is not treated with chemical fe r
tilizers.
When Manure Is Applied.
The manure Is hauled to the fields
twice a year on the majority o f
farms. Many furmers apply It dur
ing the winter when the ground Is
frozen and hauling is easier and when
there is more time fo r this work, but
this should not be done on hillside
land or where there is danger o f the
manure being washed away when the
snow melts and before the ground is
sufficiently thawed to allow the sol
uble material to sink In. In general
practice the sod Is usually manured
in the early spring at the rate o f
eight to ten tons an acre, nnd is Im
mediately plowed and rolled. In the
fa ll manure Is applied to oats and
corn stubble land. The barnyard Is
so arranged that the team and
spreader can be driven into any part
o f it, including the covered portion,
where loading can be done directly.
The bulletin describes In detail the
crop rotation plan and methods o f
handling manure on ten Chester coun
ty farms, on each o f which the yield
o f corn Is maintained at 75 bushels
or more an acre, and where high
yields nre 'being made at no sacrifice
o f profit. These farms offer good ex
amples o f the way In which manure
should be handled and utilized to se
cure the greatest possible returns.
LEATHER IS NEEDED
SO SAVE ALL HIDES
outer edges should be kept a little
higher than the middle, so that the
liquor or Airlne formed by the dissolv
ing o f the salt In the natural moist
ure of the hides may be absorbed bjf
them. I f the pack Is low on one side,
or is built slanting like a shed roof,
the brine w ill seep up, causing the
hides to shrink in weight.
Use salt
that has been screened nnd is free
from large lumps and dirt.
Dirty
salt w ill stain the fresh sides o f
hides.
One pound o f salt to each
pound o f the hide Is the general rule.
Hides should remain in pack from 15
to 30 days nnd stored In cool (00 to
65 degrees Fahrenheit) cellars from
which the outside air is excluded.
It Is Quite Profitable to Skin All
Animals Carefully.
■
$
Ta n n e r Pays More for Packers’ Hides
T h a n for Those Obtained From
Farm ers— Proper Storage
Is of Importance.
(Prepared by the United States Depart
ment o f Agriculture.)
¥ .. I
t w 4 J
i r 'H , ft
J © W «»t* r n New spaper Union \
;
New portrait o f Lady Townshcnd,
w ife o f the hero o f Kut-el-Amarn. She
was made a stuff officer In the French
The Women's Ilinlio corps, an organization with but 21 members and
army for her work In organizing can with branches In New York. Boston nnd Washington, is one of the unique
teens for the troops In Lorraine. She products of tile war. Their first job was to tench drafted men the radio
was often under fire.
buzzer. Their next assignment, the one they are doing now, was to Inspect
radio equipment In the three cities named, and six are now stationed in each
Minor Matter.
city. In tlie picture, from left to right, are: Elizabeth Baker, Montclair, N. J ,;
A Cardiff woman Joined a private Loreua Ileed, Cambridge, Mass., nnd Hltse Owen, Stonlngton, Conn.
literary eirele.
Her husband, who
has no fail!) In feminine Judgment on
such matters, was Anxious to know
how things went.
“ Well, and what sort o f n meeting
did you have?” he asked, on his w ife’s
return.
“ Splendid!" she answered.
“ And what was (he toplo under OK
mission ?”
“ Oh” was the reply, " I ’ve discussed
the antecedent o f that brazen worn
an with the dyed hair that Just
moved In opposite the Joneses, and
also one o f the poets— Shelly, 1
think.” —Cardiff (W ales) Mall.
ONE OF BRITAIN'!» NAVAL SECRETS
Evading the Law.
Mr. Fcdup was tired o f his married
life, his w ife annoyed him, his home
life bored him, so when walking out
on Sunday, ns one o f the numbers on
tits dull program, they rame across a
d e a d dog In tile middle o f the road. •
H e said to the unsuspecting Mrs.
Fed up:
“ You stay on this side o f the road. 1
darling, and I will go on the other.”
When the desired positions were oc- !
cupled he shouted across:
“ I promised the pursou when I wed
you that naught but death would part
This photograph, made on the British "hush" ship Renown, shows an
us, and so I am off uow I”
airplane ready to leave the ship, the runways being placed on two of the guns.
#
Candling Eggs in a Government Poul
t r y Demonstration Car,
forcement o f a system o f cheeking the
work o f Individual eandlers, particu
larly In plants employing inexperienced
help, was found to be the best way to
maintain high efficiency and thus elim
inate waste by grading marketable
eggs ns rejects.
BEST WEIGHT FOR LEGHORNS
Th re e and O ne-Half Pounds for Hens
and Fou r and O ne-Quarter for
Cocks Is Average.
There Is no standard weight given
fo r Leghorns, though the average may
be said to be three and one-half
pounds fo r hens, nnd four and one-
quarter pounds fo r cocks. Bullets und
cockerels are n trifle under these
weights.
Some strains run heavier,
which Is obtained by Introducing M i
norca blood. It Is thought that some
o f the English breeders have crossed
n little Wyandotte blood, fo r their
Leghorns are o f a much different type.
SELECT HENS FOR BREEDERS
Choose Individuals T h a t Are Layers
and Meet*Standard Requirements
ae F a r as Possible.
In «electing fo r egg production in
clude In the breeding pen hens that
laid In November. December and Janu
ary. Choose Individuals having con
stitutional vigor and meeting standard
requirements so fa r as possible.
The present very urgent demand fo r
leather In the Imltistrles and the in-
, crease in price which unseored hides
bring on the market emphasizes the lm-
\ portance and even necessity o f exer
cising the utmost care in removing
skins from, farm animals. By devot
ing a little extra time necessary in
skinning animals carefully— possibly
only three to five minutes in taking off
the skin o f a calf, or 15 minutes In
the case o f a beef hide— the value of
the hide may be Increased several
times.
The tnnner pays more foil
packers’ hides than for those from
farmers or country slaughterers. This
Is due In part to better facilities In the
large packing houses fo r curing and
storage o f hldas. but principally to
the fact that such hides have been
taken off properly. Country hides re
moved by unskilled workmen are often
cut and scored.
When such hides
come from a tannery, scores show very
plainly, and In many cases one-half o f
the thickness o f the leather Is lost by
such defects.
Imperfections can be
avoided hy the careful use of the skin
ning knife, by keeping the hides clean
aj|d free from Mood and by proper
storage and packing.
The use o f the knife may be avoid
ed by taking off calfskins, except on
the head, neck, legs and flanks, ns the
body skin may be drawn or fisted off.
Where the knife Is used, the skin
should be drawn taut with one hand,
while the knife Is used with the other,
special care being taken to hold the
j back o f the blade close to the skin. In
‘ lieu o f the knife some butchers use a
wooden stick shaped like a man’s
thumb and employ a knife only on the
| portions o f the body mentioned.
It Is objectionable to have blood on
the hides, particularly In the summer
time, as It Is likely to cause the hair
to slip from rotting or decomposition
when the hides nre packed nnd the
placing o f otherwise good hides In the
No. 2 grade on the m arket
Care should be taken to avoid plac
ing any bides In the pack until they
are free from antmnl heat. Allow them
to lie folded fo r from three to five
hours, or sufficiently long to allow the
animal heat to get out o f them.
If
this Is not done, patches o f decompo
sition may result and such hides are
often reduced In market value at least
a cent or more a pound.
In building up a pack o f hides the
•
: COWS FED INDIVIDUALLY *
(Prepared by the United States De
partment o f Agriculture.)
I f dairy cows are to he fed fo r
ifrofltable production they must
receive a liberal ration at all
seasons.
In summer,, pasture
generally Is depended upon, but
often it must be supplemented
by soiling crops or silage, and
sometimes by concentrates as
well.
For winter feeding, the
ration usually Is composed of
hay, silage, nnd a mixture of
grains.
In properly balancing
the ration the grain mixture is
compounded to fit the roughage
with due consideration for cost,
bulk, palatablllty, and physiolog
ical effect upon the cow. For
best results, cows must be fed
Individually, salted regularly,
nnd furnished with all the clean
water they w ill drink.
WAR CROPS HAVE INCREASED
County Agents Boost Hog Production
and Sugar Beet Yields in State
of Minnesota.
(Prepared by the United States Depart
ment o f Agriculture.)
A 7 per cent increase In hog produc
tion and a 25 per cent Increase in
sugar-beet production over the pre
ceding year is the result o f campaigns
carried on this year by county agents
In Minnesota. When the call came fo r
more pork and more sugar as a war
emergency, surveys were made In
those sections o f the state where hogs
are raised and where sugar beets are
grown profitably. The county agents
advised farmers to raise one litter
more o f pigs and to house and feed
them properly. In spite o f the fact
that there has been a shortage o f corn
fo r feeding and that a large number
o f brood sows and hogs were sold and
shipped to neighboring states where
corn was more plentiful, the Increase
In production was made.
A larger
acreage In sugar beets was also se
cured through the efforts o f the agents.