The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1912-01-25

steads Of their own without the aid of
the masculine gender has not been n
great success. IL the views Of ore of
these precious farmerettes can be tax
en- as indicative of the reason for the
failure of the experiment 1t seems to
be due to the fact that the girls miss.
ed the companionship OF young men.
had to do too much dirty work and
had no butter. but only gravy, on the
table for dinner.
Here is problem in addition for
every boy between the ages of ten and
fourteen years: given-any individual
boy as he Is now. What he Is a dozen
years hence will be what he is now
plus what he puts into his life-heart,
head and hand-in this short interval.
His habits of life will then be well
formed and his ambitions and ideals
tave pretty definite bent. Whether he
amounts to anything at the end of the
next dozen years-is a man In the best
sense of the word or just a human
scrub-is the problem that every boy
has on his hands for solution. His
parents and teachers can help some,
but in the main 1t Is up to him What
will his answer be?
In a recent issue of this department
there was a paragraph replying to a
reader who thought he had seen n
statement in these notes as to the
skimmilk. In characterizing 1t the
phrase was used. ut is as impossible
as 1t Is to make whistle out Of pigs
tail" Within q few days a reader Of
the department who lives at Puyallup.
Wash, states that this phrase no long
er has force. as fellow who lives in
Michigan has made splendid whistles
out of pigs tails. He first carefully
removed the bone, then stretched the
skin over a stick and when cured var
nished it. He later removed the stick.
inserted short plug in its place and
cut hole in the dry skin just back
of the plug. Our correspondent says
this made an excellent whistle. Next!
Following a pretty droughty season,
q good many who have built houses
sAe past summer will want to get
catch of grass this fall on their grounds.
While good step may be made In this
direction IL conditions are favorable
by giving the area q top dressing of
rich mellow earth and seeding with
the prepared lawn grass mixture, the
writer has found from his own expe
Faence and that Of others that much
surer way Is to supplement this seed
sng by planting. chunks of blue grass
sod six or eight inches square at In
tervals of three or four feet each way.
One of the finest and quickest lawns
we ever saw-as small one.-was estab-
hshed at once by covering the entire
area with good thick sod and water
ing literally. However. where the
smaller pieces of sod are used at in
tervals q sod is soon obtained. and
much sooner than is possible with the
seeding alone.
Some time ago the writer suggest
ed through paragraph In these
notes to young man In Illinois
who was anxious to get a start In an
agricultural way the wisdom Of look
ing into the opportunities available in
connection with some of the govern
ment's western irrigation enterprises.
These tracts cost the homestead value
of the land-about $3.50 per acre plus
the actual cost of the water right,
which varies In different enterprises
from 1886 to $50 per acre. The great
advantages in buying such government
tracts are. first, that when a fellow
buys water right he gets so much
water, not blue sky or hot air, and, sec
ondly, he Is given ten years in which
to make payment, and that without
interest on deferred payments. Tracts
In the Huntley project in Idaho have
this season cleared their owners $50
per acre in the growing of sugar beets.
enough to cover the entire purchase
price of the land. Many young fell
low who has saved up a nest egg and
wants to get away from the bad air
and cramped conditions of shop or fac
tory and get home on the land would
do well to look into some of these gov.