The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1914-04-16
The News of Somerset's Busy Towns

ton could make the sweet corn pro
titablp crop. There is no other way
but to act. 10 take the chance as all
good farmers do With every other kind
Of tillagc crop The seed TO be dis
tributcd 10 thc growers OF the North
Arson factory THIS season is Maine
grown which. indeed IS a favorable
beginning is many believe that good
seed grown al home is of the utmost
importance Sapt Emery has the
books ready fOr acreage and while
quite a larec number of acres have
already been pledged there is sill an
opportunity for those who have not
placed Their acreage 10 do So. Let
The growers try again and make the
coming season the greatest paeh the
North Arson factory has ever known.
Stewart Public Library will be clos
cd Tor few weeks or until further
notice. as repairs are to be made on
the building and the new book shelves
are 10 be placed in position.
Earle Mitchell is clerking in the
store of Davis & Miller at Madison.
taking the place formerly held BY Aus
tin Eames
Miss Lena Douley has been speno-
ing her Easter vacation with her pa
rents, Mr. and Mrs Frank Donley.
If you want to sell or buy a farm
call on the Central Maine Realty Co.
Skowhegan
The Norton Brothers. Who live Just
above the village on the Embden road,
are doing quite business this spring
in making maple syrup They own
and operate one of the largest ald
best farms in town, containing 800
acres known as the Maple Grove
Farm and have large maple orchard
near the home buildings where they
devote a portion of their time every
spring to making maple syrup, a bust
ness which the Nortons have followed
successfully for more than 30 years.
This season they commenced opera
tons March 2Sth and now have 654
trees tapped Over 600 of their buck
cts are covered. and next season they
intend to use none but covered buckets
The spiles. buckets. and evaporator
are all the latest design made by G. II.
Grimm 4 Co, of Rutland, Vermont
Their equipment enables them to han.
die about 600 gallons of sap per day
thereby producing 20 gallons of syrup
daily. In gathering the sap it is taken
to the sap house in lots of about l2O
gallons each, and conveyed from the
sled to the storage tank through a
fifty foot pipe and thoroughly strain
ed before it goes into the tank. The
evaporator is SKIP feet with corrugat-
ed bottom and is constantly being sup
piled from the tank with fresh sap
which after it reaches the evaporator
runs along distance of "A feet
through these sections until it reaches
the syrup pans to which it is conveyed
by siphons, and is then forced along d
distance of II feet when it is converted
into syrup of the standard weight of ! /
pounds to the gallon. The Norton
| Brothers have made already about 10y
gallons this season and with favorable
weather for the next few days will
bring the amount up to nearly POO gal
ions They make choice article and
| have yearly customers not only in the
I local market but much is shippo d
away
This village needs a few hitchinS
posts. 1t is absolutely necessary tina,
those who come here have some place
to hitch their horses as there is no
stable on the street now. This town
ne, rs a public stable on the site where
| the old one was burned. For many
long years previous to the fire this
village had good accommodations for
horses when people drove into town.
Now that there is none there seems to
be one thing lacking in a great degree
iC
the streets and the unsghtly piles of
rubbish left by the fire last summer
are again in view. the question is be
ing asked will any more buildings
be erected this summer" The ques-
ton thus far has not been answered.
Much talk is made as to what ought
to be done but there seems to be no
one to do it. Many of the buildings
that went down on the morning of the
18th of August were built by the enter
prising business men of the long ago,
when North Arson was the seat OF
trade for the surrounding country,
when the country village was the place
where the people did their business
and the country merchant was the
prosperous man of the town. Not
so now, the years have brought many
and great changes in doing business
especially with the country people.
The great department houses of the
cities and the Parcel Post have
wrought havoc with the country mer-
chant and in these Metropolitan es-
adjustments that represent millions of
dollars of capital the small country
trader has hard competitor. 1t is
said that since the introduction of
Parcel Post the mail order houses have
increased their business 20 per cent,
and this is only the beginning. The
inventive genius of the past fifty years
has almost annihilated time and space.
The backwoodsman with his humble
home on the country cross roads reads
the city daily every night and sends