HOME AND FAEM MAGAZINE SECTION
Home and Farm Magazine Section Editorial Page
Suggestions From Our Associate Editors, Allowing For an Interchange of Views, Written by Men of Experience on Topia With
Which They Are Fully Acquainted Hints Along Lines of Progressive Farm Thought
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t WAR AND THE TOURIST.
ANEW CLASS of visitors will be enter
tained by the farmers of the North
west this coming year, probably in
greater numbers than has ever been seen
in the West. We refer to the "idle" rich
arid the hordes of tourists.
This may not be laid entirely at the
'doors of the P. P. I. Exposition at San
Francisco. The war raging in Europe will
be responsible for thousands touring the
West that did not dream of coraino- to th
Coast for the Exposition. While many of
the travelers will come on "de luxe" trams,
thousands will probably make the trip in
. automobiles, stopping at night at the most
convenient farm houses. They will be en
tertained with true western hospitality, and
will become most ardent boosters of this
fertilo country upon their return to the
East.
This is what President John A. Wilson,
;of the American Automobile Association, is
quoted as saying last week on his return
from Europe:
"It. is my guess that in 1915 many Ameri
cans who annually motor abroad will be
como better acquainted with their own
country.
"Granted that we need many miles of
real highway to get our road travelers to
the scenic sections of the country, we are
improving our arteries of communication
more substantially than isHhe case even in
France, where its network of well-built
roads will serve the country in the warfare
now raging," he continued.
"That many Americaus will take advant
age of a year or so to remain in their
home country while the war continues in
Europe- means that they will become bet
ter acquainted with America and realize
that its seenic wonders more than compare
with what can bo found abroad ; and while
they may find difficulty in reaching Yel
lowstone and getting within its gates, not
yet thoroughly comfortable in viewing the
snow-clad peaks of Glacier Park; limited
in their motor opportunities in the Yose
mito, and able to reach the Grand Canyon
over the road only after a struggle, the
interchange of road travelers by the vari
ous parts of the country will accentuate
and accelerate the demand for improved
roads and a proper participation by the
federal government in accomplishing a
.work 'of the greatest valuo to the nation as
. a whole."
BLOODED CATTLE FOR NORTHWEST.
FOR THE PURPOSE of improving the
breed of cattle in the Pacific North
west some important purchases of
English cattle have been made in England
for James J. Hill. One shipment is of 50
'dairy Shorthorn bulls, which will be given
tway to as many counties in that section
of the country. Each one of these bulls is
born of a cow with a milk record of 10,000
pounds or more a year.
Besides the gift of these blooded animals
to the farmers of the Northwest, a herd
of 10 cows and a bull of South Devons, the
first to be imported to America, will be
sent to Hill's Minnesota farm as well as two
prize-winning dairy Shorthorns to his North
Dakota farm.
Tho purchases wero made by Professor
Thomas Shaw, the well-known expert of
Minnesota. According to Eugene Grubb,
$he United States Livestock Commissioner,
now in England, this is the most impor
tant smpment of blooded cattle ever made
to Ameriea from England and will mean a
great improvement in breed in the North
west, both for milk and beef purposes.
A TWO-MINUTE HORSE.
NEARLY a quarter of a century ago,
Nelson, the Northern king, turned the
Grand Rapids track in 2:10, and that
mile stands today as the best performance
of a trotting stallion, pulling a high wheel
ed sulky over a regulation track.
Over the same oval several weeks ago
there was paced a mile by the 4-year-old
horse William that will live as long in
turf history as the one of Nelson. We
have at last a genuine two-minute race
horse, the realization of a hope that a
generation ago was scoffed at as being only
a dream.
When William led Walter Cochato home
that second heat in 2 .-00 he earned for him
self undisputed title as king of pacers. That
the new champion has greater honors in
store is the belief of all who saw him in
his matchless feat of a short time ago, for
at the finish he was going well within him
self. William gets his name from his driver,
William Marvin, who, by the way, is no kin
to the famous reinsman whose name is link
ed with the champions of the house of Elec
tioneer. When first sent to Marvin for
training the colt bore the name of Billy
Jay. He was not raced as a 2-year-old, and
showed only a mile in 2:20. Last season
he raced six times without a defeat, taking
a record of 2:05, making him the fastest
pacer of his age.
SEVERAL HUNDRED strong or rather
weak (from sneezing) New York
City's representation for the annual
convention of the United States Hay Fever
Association has left for Bethlehem, N. H.
It may seem funny to the rest of the world
but a hay fever congress is a serious mat
ter to the 200,000 odd sufferers of this
peculiar malady which costs the people of
New York state annually close to $5,000,
000. The loss, it was explained, is in loss
of services and wages, the sufferers being
incapacited for work for from six to eight
weeks every year. New York state has the
distinction of furnishing one-eighth of the
hay fever sufferers of the country.
"Contrary to general opinion," said
Percy F. Jorome, secretary-treasurer of the
Empire State organization, as he boarded
the train for the hay fever haven, "hay has
nothing to do with the hay fever. I am
pained to observe that many eminent physi
cians hold the same foolish belief. The dis
ease is so called because it is after the hay
has been cut, baled and gathered into the
bard that it grips the sufferers. It is the
absence of hay that causes hay fever. The
fields, formerly covered with hay, are over
run with goldenrod after the hay is cut.
This flower together with its wicked con
federates, the ragweed, sweetpea and nas
turtium, is responsible for the annual har
vest of 200,000 hay fever victims in the
United States."
THE WORLD'S HOPE.
IT IS A GOOD time for Americans to
keep constantly in mind Kipling's
famous Recessional hymn, "Lord God
of Hosts, be with us yet, lest we forget,
lest we forget."
There certainly is a great temptation to
all of us in America to flatter ourselves
greatly over the happy conditions in which
we find purselves. While all Europe is rent
with the greatest war ever staged 'in the
world, while thousands of men are being
slaughtered there, and while hundreds of
thousands, yes millions, find themselves in
want of food, profound peace reigns in
our country, and plenty covers the conti
nent as universally as waters cover the sea.
Europe must look to us for her food sup
ply, for cotton to keep her spinning ma
chines and looms going, giving her people
an opportunity to survive the hardships of
war during the coming winter. And by S
peculiarly happy condition, we are ha
vesting now the most abundant crops evet
gathered in' the country, while the crops ol
Europe, scant at the best, are remaining
unharvested or trampled into the earth be
neath the feet of myriads of men and
horses.
Our winter wheat crop, according to th
August forecast, will come to 675,000,000
bushels, spring wheat to 236,000,000, gi.
rng us a total of 911,000,000 bushels o
wheat for the crop. Of corn the crop will
come to 2,634,000,000 bushels, of oats l,153r
000,000 bushels, barley 203,000,000 bushels,
rye 43,000,000 bushels, buckwheat 17,000y
000 bushels. Then there are the two great
root crops, white potatoes 370,000,000 busb
els and sweet potatoes 50,000,000 bushels;
Of raw material for use in factories we
shall have 791,000,000 pounds of tobacco
and 17,000,000 of flax. To, add to th
cereal crops there will bo 24,000,000 bush
els of rice, and of hay 69,000,000 tons.
LAST OF KILLING MEN.
GENERAL PERCIN of the French army
recently compiled some interesting
figures on the expense of war, inclucV
ing the cost of killing a. man. That is ob
tained by dividing the total cost of a war
to one side by the number of men killed on
the other side.
In 1870:1871 France spent $400,000,000 in
the actual expenses of the war with Ger
many. Repairing materials and giving suc
cor to the victims of the war, expenses that
are justly to be added, cost another $200,
000,000. France paid $1,000,000,000 as war
indemnity, plus another $400,000,000 in in
terest on the sum, loss of revenue, forced
contributions by the enemy and upkeep of
the German army of occupation.
On a similar basis here are some facts
about other wars:
Russo-Turkish War (1877-1878) Turkey,
$400,000,000.
Russo-Japanese war (1905) Russia, $1,
200,000,000. The number of men killed or who died of
wounds in these wars were:
Franco-Prussian War Germans, 28,600,
Russo-Turkish War Russians, 16,600.
Russo-Japanese War Japanese, 58,600.
From which it is figured that the cost of
killing each man was as follows;
In 1870-71, $21,000.
In 1877-1878, $15,000.
I 1905, $20,400.
What killed the greatest number and re
duced tho effective force most is not the
rifle or cannon, but fatigue, typhus or
cholera.
In 1870, 380,000 Germans entered the
hospitals. Although they did not die of their
illness, they were none the less made useless
for a certain time. In the Crimean War the
allied armies lost four times as many men
through disease as were killed in battle.
This proportion was 3 to 1 among the Rus
sians in 1877-1878 ; it was only 1 to 2 among
the Japanese in Manchuria, thanks to their,
excellent hygiene.
..
John's Day was celebrated at Riverside,
Park, Indiana, last month. Probably never
in the history of the country were so many
Johns gathered together in one spot. The
John's Day idea originated with a group of
Eaton residents whoso wives call them to
breakfast by caroling their name. Last year
the Johns and their families numbered
6,000 persons, and this year's crowd waa
even larger.
From Shanghai, China, comes the news
that the egg shipments to the Coast will be
greatly reduced as carriers are difficult to
find and the European demand is greater.
As tho shipments average 15,000 cases a
week, here is a chance for the Northwest,
era poultryman.
All of this talk about bottling up a fleet
here and a squadron there is nothing to the
way the war news is bottled up. And Eng
land seems to be the best little news bottler
in the business.