The Irish standard., 1920-06-19

H4e department is trying to eliminate
kh4se losses, but the funds at it's COM
@and for demonstration and edua-,
onal work make 1t impossible to
&over the ground in any adequate way,
he secretary says. In this connection
4r. Meredith reminds the public that
The cotton grower pays part Of this
a6ts when he sells his cotton and the
pnsumer pays the other part when he
buys his clothes.
Left In Freight Cars to Rot.
Multiplied millions of dollars worth
Nf fruits and vegetables rot every year
an railroad cars, Secretary Meredith
1ays. In two months last year $3,OOO,-
900 worth of apples from the North
west were frozen In transit. That Is
the estimated loss Of one kind Of fruit
rom one section in two months. 'You
ESan imagine what 1t is on all kinds OF
duit and on all kinds Of vegetables
from all parts Of the country In a
year." said Mr.. Meredith. "Losses
from heat are just about as heavy as
those from cold" The department has
been trying for long time to elimi-
nate these losses. Many Of the re-
&igerator cars in use on the railroads,
the secretary says, are inefficient be-
cause of faulty construction and are
unsuitable for the shipment of perish
able products.
Losses by improper loading and
packing of fruits and vegetables every
where run as high as 40 to so per cent
of the carload. Recently specifica-
lions for loading cars with certain
fruits and vegetables have been de-
veloped by the department. Informa-
ton collected by the department in
ppectors in Chicago shows that sacked
potatoes loaded in the manner sug.
Egested by the department sustained
practically no loss in transit. In the
winter of 1917-18, according to the de-
partment's records, Is per cent Of the
cars of potatoes were improperly
1oaded.
Secretary Meredith asserts that live
stock valued at S1,OOO,OOO arrives in
market dead in the course of a year,
chiefly because the cars are over
crowded or delayed in transit. The
department believes it can do some
thing toward eliminating this kind Of
Toss.
Wood for Musical Instruments.
'srhe next time you go to church
and listen to the soft tones Of
the organ, coming from you know
not where, ponder what makes those
tones" says the American Forest
~ association of Washington, "for
wood. To Philadelphian goes the
credit for discovering the possibilities
OF getting tones from wood in this
fashion for the first time many years
ago. Strange as it may seem, the dis
covery was due to the soft patter Of
the rain drops on cedar-shingled .SSbf.
When Philadelphia's roofs were mostly
covered with shingles, Gottlieb Hittel-
berger listened to the rainfall and
noted the different sounds, and from
that he worked out the pipe organ.
Wood has long been the material for
sound-making instruments, the associ-
alton points out, from the savage meth
DDS for making music down to the
present-day pipe organs costing thou
sands of dollars. The value Of vio-
lin is In the sound-production quail
ties of the wood used in making it,
A tremendous industry is founded
upon the use of more than two hun
dred million feet of wood every year
in the manufacture of musical instru-
ments.
Uses Of Soft and Hard Woods.
Most soft woods listed in this indus
try do not owe their place to their res
onance. For instance, much white
pine and sugar pine are manufactured
into keys for organs and pianos, but
they are preferred for these places
on account Of their lightness and small
tendency to warp, and not for any
possess.
Such soft woods as hemlock, doug
las fir, yellow pine and cypress are
demanded for the frames of large in"
struments, to give the necessary
strength without too much weight or
at too great cost; but these woods
hold places in this industry other than
as frame stock.
Five feet Of hardwood go to these
manufacturers to one foot Of soft
wood.
Maple leads all others. 1t Is not be-
cause this wood has some special use
which accounts for the large demand,
but it is due to the general fitness of
maple for many parts of musical In
struments.
Both soft woods and hard wood are
employed in this industry. Ten of the
former are on the list, all Of which
are native of the United States. Not
foot OF imported soft wood is used,
unless possibly little spruce from
Canada for sounding boards, but none
such is shown by the records. The to-
tai annual demand for soft woods ex-