Manchester Democrat. [volume] (Manchester, Iowa) 1875-1930, 1909-11-03
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The Worlds Timber,
Prof. Somerville's paper before the
British Association on the timber sup
ply shows that the world is steadily
approaching a timber famine. Already
Britain pays each year 27,000,O00
sterling for wood; Germany. with
nearly twelve times the area of forest
possessed by Britain. annually pays
100000 sterling for imported tim
Der, and, although the United States
OF America exports wood and wood
products to the value of 20,000.000
sterling per annum, she has to pay
as much for imports. In Europe,
Sweden and Russia are, of course. the
chief timber exporting countries. but
in both cases the vast inroads on
supplies Is seriously felt, and exports
are being appreciably reduced. There
are. of course, Canada and Siberia,
but in Canada. at all events, wood is
being used up at rapid rate.
Cleaning the Poultry House.
Are you still back number, in al
lowing the poultry house to get filthy
and dirty, foul-smelling nesting mate
rial, infested with lice and mites? Or
have you become progressive, and by
actual trial have found out how we'll
1t pays to keep everything neat and
clean and in strictly sanitary con-
dition?
By this time you certainly have the
farm work well in hand. and can
spare few hours time for giving the
poultry house and yard thorough
cleaning and overhauling. II the quar-
tiers are allowed to become filthy and
infested with vermin, as we'll as the
fowls themselves. things will soon go
to the bad, and the hens will take on
that pale, languid appearance. which
will surely terminate in disaster IL
neglected.
Clean out not only all the drop.
pings, but also all the old straw and
litter in the house, cleaning out the
nests, spraying them and the roosts
with coal oil to kill mites. In fact.
the entire aim should be to do every
thing in as thorough and painstaking
manner as possible. Give the inside
walls a good coat of whltewash. which
both makes the house lighter and kills
vermin. If the floor is given a good
coating of dry lime, 1t will serve to
give the entire interior a pleasant,
healthy odor. This also has bene-
fetal effect in killing disease germs,
and is especially valuable In case OF
disease, when 1t should be used around
in the yards as well as in the house,
Agricultural Epitomist.
Importance of Irrigation.
Rivers are always the nurses Of the
earliest civilization, and In this re-
spect the Tigris and Euphrates are
rivals of the Nile, for Babylonia. like
Egypt, was rivers gift" The
Mesopotamian Valley is intersected,
gridiron fashion, by huge canals-not
dug out, but built upon the earth's
surface, crossing the plain from river
to river and seeming to the traveller
like ranges behind ranges of curiously
regulated hills. From these, lesser
canals branched In all directions and
gave birth In turn to others still
smaller, until at last the final threads
carried the lifs-giving water to every
grove and garden and individual palm
A system of irrigation so mechanically
perfect and on so vast a scale was
never elsewhere seen. All the wealth
and splendor and power of the ancient
.Babylonian and Assyrian empires we're
founded on this system. They issued
from and were dependent on 1t. The
prosperity Of the country hung on It's
water supply as absolutely as the ex-
istence of Saharan oasis hangs on
Its we'll. A harm done to the irriga-
ton system was felt through all the
civilization 1t nourished.
1t was so the Mesopotamian civiliza.
ton died. The complicated irrigation
works which watered the country re-
quired for their upkeep the superin-
tending care of multitudes Of trained
laborers and expert engineers. Only
knowledge and skill and large re-
sources could deal with and maintain
the immense canals and sluices and
dams and locks which distributed the
river water over the land which com
posed a machinery as elaborate as a
clocks, though Of water works, not
metal works. The hand Of steady
and strong government was needed to
wind that machinery up and keep 1t
going, and there came time when
that hand was withdrawn. London
Review.
Planting Trees for Posts.
The rapid denuding of our forests
and the consequent scarcity of timber
for all purposes. especially the cheaper
kinds in the rough for farm require
ments. renders the planting of forest
trees Of great Importance. There are
few farms, especially on prairies, that
have not several small pieces of land
that are not easy of cultivation, which
a little time and work will fit for the
planting of trees. which should be set
In rows about four feet apart. and
cultivated as corn. Seeding trees can
be purchased from the larger nurseries
at from So to S. per thousand, which
Is cheaper than the labor required to
dig them in the timber lands If they
could be gotten for nothing. 1t is a
good plan to cut of the entire top Of
the young tree when setting out. This
will give good. strong, straight
growth for the trunk of the future
tree. A little pruning during the first
and second summers will start the
trees with good. clean trunks, and
after this but little care will be need
ed A small Mat of lopd 10 Drona,l,,