The Bluffton news. [volume] (Bluffton, Ohio) 1875-current, 1950-04-20
Ma~L
DeaAoAoI

Spring-it began to look like the
real thing the first of the week
when Sunday led off with high of
62 degrees-quite contrast to the
big Easter snowfall a week pre-
vious and farmers starting
spring tillage this week-oats plant
ing will be late :. high school and
college baseball schedules also dis
rupted by the weather which is fin
ally hitting its stride = four grass
fires Monday and Tuesday-looks
like we need good soaking rains like
we had month ago =. gardeners
getting in their early planting
wonder where all those onion sets
go we've seen in the groceries :.
and politics, hardy perennial which
fiourishes in any weather bursting in
to full bloom for the May primaries
however, with peace and har-
mony in local party camps looks like
little interest in the election this
year when precinct committeeman
are chosen and not too many voters
will go to the polls Buttons
building boom getting an early start
with construction men already busy
downtown talk has it that five
new homes are either under con-
struction or will start shortly-be-
sides other commercial and indus
trial building-looks like busy sum-
mer in Bluffton !. and while we
are talking about things to be done,
remember it's time now for every
Blufftonite to start planning on the
fullest cooperation for Bluffton's
Cleanup, Paint-up and Fix-up cam
paign starting next week . +. every
one get out with scrub and paint
brushes and give the old town a
spring facelifting.
When the fire department makes
run-that's pretty much routine
but when the fire department puts
out one fire and starts another
well, that's news. And that is what
happened Monday evening when the
truck made it's second run in less
than six hours to the Howard Stag
er field on the Dixie south of the
corporation line to check a grass fire
started along the Nickel Plate rail-
road right of way presumably by
sparks from passing locomotive.
After extinguishing the blaze the
firemen started a back-fre to burn
out some remaining grass in order to
eliminate another potential fire haz-
ard. However, there still remained
more dry grass as the department
was called out there again by an
other blaze Tuesday noon.
The three fires on the Stager place,
together with one at the Lester
Young place east of town along the
Nickel Plate, Monday afternoon made
four grass fires in less than "a
hours, believed to be a record here.
But when it comes to dry weather,
what Bluffton has had is nothing as
compared to what it is in the south
west-and you can take that as COM
ing straight from first-hand source.
Mr.. and Mrs. Abe Baumgartner who
last fall moved from Orange town.
ship to Mountainair, New Mexico, on
1,400 acre farn-or ranch, if YOU
choose to be western, are back here,
having bought the old John Augs-
burger farm two miles northwest of
Bluffton later occupied by Sylvanus
Welty.
Lack of rainfall-none for months
made it impossible to raise binto
beans, the big crop in that section
of New Mexico and they disposed of
their holdings there to interests who
are turning the place into grass
for cattle raising.
Bintos are those small speckled
beans you find in the groceries.
When growing conditions are favor
able binto growers raise huge crops
and Mountainair, market center.
has four big elevators to handle
them
Rainfall or the lack of it, means
the difference between a bumper
yield or failure. Irrigation is not
practical because of the mountainous
terrain.
Another sure sign of spring is the
tree trimming which has been in
full swing for the past month. Nc
Neal trimmers from Tiffin which
came here to trim trees on the
Presbyterian church yard have been
kept busy since then on lawns at
private residences.
Comes word from Mrs. Florence
Highland Murphy of haywood,
California, former Blufftonite, who
still enjoys reading the Bluffton
News after having been gone for
more than thirty years.
She is the daughter of the late
Mr. and Mrs. Dave Highland, early
Bluffton family who lived in South
Lawn avenue in what is now the
Amiel Amstutz property.
And another former Blufftonite-