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_= SEPTEMBER 9.

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- NEWSY NOTES -

naonwou’

l

ugnmswlck. “d the B

immmon on the . twniy odes " s"; seen "the ~ - “been told that it "m; locality on Now this mill/i U!‘ ‘there may be w“, (oozed with not entitled. am may i"

Jrith n h flgillrog

Jniorkim. an-

thcui-‘ll 1i

i to 6 inches- q, that is.

‘has, behind

f, pyOmiIlf-Hlt fold

‘our Green Frog 1h; dorsolotera l gen face-mask. l

bed, with marks t0 80 by‘

fiesenccslalflhii °

iiircsc queries: (l)

ii the "Eeurrw" uowcpd or rears ago it. dicd

.ne . vet it

it was attacked

~ The loss of the

moisture in the

With regard to (Psailiota compost

fact all the fl stools as we call spit-nous by tut-n- sayinl! goes In a aroulentlful. and

showers. they mav is. if the weather

summer always rocrn Year". In mushrocm-gathere the ficlds at da

iavor of The Guar mens of the Japa pllllo ianonlca).

course. "cadavers", pins. and therefore perfectly harm- less! I am glad to

specimens for iden long may it be ‘er

en for the purpose! We have

many insect pests Thi- Japanese B

the group called the Scarobaeidnc. related to

and so is Bugs. which to so semblcs. Neverthel “not alarge insect.

, -i0th of an inch, or 1 cm. long. j iii wing-covers nre of a beautiful

shining coppery h

calely illIi‘O\lI€d (strlate). They are

somewhat shorter

The chorax (i.e., the part between

the neck and "chest"), is of a

illle, ranging from dark green to

blvllli". and is m

Round tho extremity of the body are a number of whitish which under a hand-lens are seen

to be patches

hairs; the two central spots

v Note: and Queries .1’ ber of the i Amelxgeld Olu

once wrote asking if we,

umrog (Rand catesbeinna| , 5mm) cu the lei.‘-

some fro! which has

‘It “(s ale often 'ml5lEBdll\\'1l, or it.

"critter" good description.

may vary in length frcrr It has no dormlateral no ridge or fold along u, 1| other frogs have.

Minn ear-membranes. and more is

_ 1t be distinguished from em can by the absence of

e Bullfrog has the hind feet fu y ‘webbed. axce t the last ioint of the qutcr toe. T c Grccn Frog (Rana. ‘gglnmllfllll (Latroillel has the last two joints of thc outer toe not web-

the question cf its

ould this frog occur on the Island I hope the discoverer sill write to this column. . A render in Georgetown

qcaweed to die out? t2) Whv are ‘mg nolarrintulohégfixvnsclstlitég mitt-o ' p ‘or t-he text-books

41.0mm marino In)- It is not a truc A1211. and it is not a near relative of the grasses. Some

letelv on the coasts of nt sisted in o few ‘scattered local ties. from which. I understand. it is slowly spreading. mi; consensus of opinion is that

Vihough I have never read anv scientific proof of this. Ito. the remaining plants must be immune and their spread might be helped by transplanting.

blow to ‘island farmers who ccm- roston it with their manure heaps. It did not readily decay and be- umc plant food. but it was gonce of great value

countries it. had a commercial use

and was sold as insulation and for sound-proofing horses.

spell was dead against them: eshy fungi (

vr is ncw broken, with

too cold In Britain it was hold in a dry spring followed by a moist brought a "mush-

others) and collect great baskets the dainty for the market.

The Japanese Beetle I have just received.

Acadlan Natur- livlng in New

'\. . rim‘; -\ i3 mainland. It cer.

not appear in any list m aJienta-toacis an-ci hug..-

but I havo lately ls to be found in the South Shore. may not be tlue;

a name to which (for local popular

COIIIDBTQ it

th Ls

en always :1 generally

Ne.

It the eyes. large

over and behind

fold and of the Another th :

(listin guishing be speeaiiy clear-

sends What caused the

out almost cem- this con-

by a disease. If that is

Eel-grass was a

at for holding Bround. In some

the Mushrooms rial. the long dry in thorn) are‘“con_ absence" as the- wet season ihcy since the weath- frequent vet JWTIIKWI ilio‘ does not become

the north the rs would invade wn (to fmostalfl o

through dian, some speci- nese Beetle (Po- They are. of

impaled on

have them as tificatlon. though e they are need- too

to

already. eetlc belongs

the June me extent it re- ess the beetle is being only about ue and are deli-

thun the body.

the body—the darker. metallic

inutcly punctate. spots.

v

the largest. The legs, u; itch. black. These observations w 1 en- able the farmer or gardener to 5110i. the beetle if it comes his

ay. .

The Japanese Beetle is said to sbe a serious pest on several vege- tables and fruits. and to especially vor plums and peaches. The larva. a cream-colored grub with a inkish-brown head. burrows “l1 "Bround like our "white grub"

the Juno Bug. and feeds on the

P0015 0! grass and other plants.

The specimens. I learn. were kindly sent by Dr. A. M. Bell, of New York. who recently had a most informative letter concerning the beetle, in The Guardian.

The Potato-bug is correctly nun. ed the Colcradio Potato Beetle. from the region where it was first noticed. It took years for it to cov- er the North American continent, but it reached P. E. I. at last, and it feared that - the Japanese Beetle will do the some. But this time we can be prepared for the invader, for good new: has come from the States. The grub of this beetle is subject to a malady cal- led “Milk Disease", the result of a bacteria attack. The casual org- anism c Bacillus poplllae, which. when the grub is infected, spreads rapidly through its flood and as rapidly death ensues. When the krub dies. from three to nine billions of the germs are set free to infect succeeding generations for years to come! The blood of the diseased grub takes on a milky color ,and consistency, whence the name of the disease.

The discovery of the disease op- ened up a great opportunity for the scientists of the U. S. made the moat of ed germs of the dsease from the bodies of the grub: and made cul- tures which are now available to

S

farmers and ardeners, under the name of "M lky Disease Spore Dust."

One application to the soil is normally sufficient. for it is said to be effective for years. Tests have shown the "spores" to be still fit for use four years after storage. The dust is made by a New York firm under license from the U. S. A. Dept. of Agriculture.

Plants For Naming

A farmer friend who lives at Oyster Bed Bridge. has brought two pints for naming: one is a grass and the other a shrub with black berries. >

The grass is the Barnyard Grass (Echinochloa orusgallil. This is a very common annual weed in gar- dens and rich moist ground. 1t is variable in its growth, but where conditions are suitable (as in man- ured soil) it is said to grow up to six feet high! Two feet is about the limit here. The stem is rather suc- culent and l: terminated by purpl- ish panicles which branch, thus giving rise to another name, "Cockspur Grass." As it is very prolific, if allowed to seed it soon

says it never becomes a bad weed in field or hay crops. I have con- sulted authorities on the eradica- tion of this grass and their reply was - keep the hoe going to pre- vent the grass from seeding.

The other plant was the Black

Chokeberry: this is Pyrus for Ar- onla) melanocarpe, a shrubby member of the great and numer- ous Rose family. The leaves are rather variable in shape, oval, ob- lanceolate. and so on. deep green above and paler below, and finely serrated on the edges. A distinc- tion of this plant lies in the mid- rib of the leaf. the upper surface of which is studded with little brown glandular projections. The berries are in flat-topped clusters and when ripe are almost black, hence the botanist Brtttcn calls the plant Aronia nigra. I cannot recall that any fruit belonging to the Rose family is poisonous. but that of the Choke- berry is certainly unpalatable. And here is a word of caution: every- one, and children especially. should refrain from eating berries from unknown plants. A little girl in Newcastle-on-Tyne, tempted by the appearance and taste of the ber- ries of Solarium dulcennra. ate ten of the small red fruits. and died after three days’ suffering.

The Bad Old Times

If you go into n clothing store nowadays, you will find the article

plain figures, and "you can take it or leave it alone." It was not

pale-colored beings

of

ever thus. I remember that when

QUICKIES

PQOFIT

<1 ('1

__ of the country." he said with a] rsmllc. "Alid a mighty bad one", said I. "No tradesmen would last

By Ken Reynolds

"it's a letter from tho U. S. Mint-they demand we

2i \i".i H")

I100 gusin’ Guardian Want Adel"

“Jo

you nevi marked with the price in ‘

TIMELY notes on TOPICS CONNECTED wmt . .

Silver Fox Farming '

Breeders’ and Exhibitors’ Associ- ation held a. meeting a. few eve- nings ago and completed most of the arrangements for the 15th tin- nuai live fox show which will be held at the Provincial

" . Charlottetown. er 6th to 10th. Dates for the an- nual pelt show will be the week of Januar 1st to 5th, 1945. George A. Cal beck was appointed some time ago to act as judge of the live fox show and George Mayer's was appointed last week to iud e the pelt show which will be lied in Summerside.

Quite a number of changes were made in connection with he Prize List, among them cutt..ng down the championships and acd- in; championships for white marked foxes, standard platinum

silvers, standard platinum: and standard pearl platinums. The general opinion of the meeting

was that the 1944 show would be the largest in many years and have a particularly fine display of new types.

A resolution was passed author- izing the president and secretary t". draft a letter and send it to the Honorable Mr. Ilsley, Minis- ter of Finance, requesting that the sales tax on silver fox pelts |be reduced from 25 per cent to ,what it had previously been — 12 1-2 per cent. The opinion of the meeting was that the present high sales tax is one of the fact- ors mitigating against the sale of silver fox pelts in Canada. There is nn question but public demand has been very much curtailed and as a consequence prices have. dropped because merchants will not stock up with the article.

On a forty dollar pelt the re- ductnon in tax would mean $5.00 to toe rancher, which is a very considerable amount and might mean the difference between loss on production and profit. The tax is particularly herd on Prince Edward Island fcxmen because our costs of feed are so much higher than those of the fox far- mers in Quebec. Ontario or west- ern Canada. A western rancher, who-was here a short time ago, told the writer that he pays two cents a pound for tripe, we pay six cents or more. This is not the fault of the packers. it is due largely to the higher freight costs and ccld storage charges. The difference in food costs between a fox raised in’ this province and one raised in Alberta or Saskatche- wan would be about five dollars per head.

This week there is an auction sale of silver fox and other furs

,ited. The number of pelts on sale ‘is not ver great but they will give an in icaticn as to the mar- ket's trend. The following week, September 13th to 15th, the Can- adian Fur Auction Sales Com- pany, Limited, will have a fairly large offering of silvers. white faces and other types. That sale is being attended by George A. Callbeck and Peter G. Clark in the interests of-the Canadian Na- tional Silver Fox Breeders‘ As- sociation and the P. E. I. Fur Pool respectively.

This week there is-a meeting of

I>__..

I first stepped ashore at Char- lottetown I needed a new pair of socks, for the voyage had been a long one (three weeks) and there had been no chance to change socks or anything else for that matter. S0 I went to ii clothier's ‘and bought a pair for which the clerk asked (and got) 50 cents. On my return to tho hotel where I was staying, onc of the guests began to question me. “Where did you get them?" "At so-ond-sos shop"- I found I should have acid store! Then: “What did you pay?" "50 cents," I returned. "Too much," he said, "I got a pair there last week for 35 cents. You should have bantered him clown." (That was the first time I heard "bantered" used for "bargained." It has quite, a different meaning). “Do youi mean that a tradesmen can raise the price of his goods 50 per cent for the purpose of cheating his in- experienced customer?" "Custom

six months if he tried such tricks where I come from." It was many I long year before this crudely dis- honest practice died out. and, for a wonder. it was the tradesmen who made the change.

There came a time when cash was extra scarce on the Island (it. never was very plentiful. since the people were mostly farmers) and the tradesmen began to feel that they were giving too much credit. So one after another they passed the word that in future all sale: would be for cash down_ and all goods with price tags. This meant keeping the price down too. at least to reasonable rates. since the customers could compare tags.

Another trick in the bad old times was the importation of sll ht- ly defective cloth goods -— w ich were known as “seconrls" - and if the flaw was not too conspicuv nus they were sold as "firsts" to the detriment of the customer's wallet. The writer speaks with feeling on this matter having sev- eral times been "caught" by the trick.

"Time is money" says a well- known proverb but it never seem- ed valuable in those days. Doubt- les: both shoum. n and customer had pleasure in eating their wits while haggling ("bantering"), but ' they wasted a lot of precious time. Another thing that got mv goat was a fashion that the shop as- sistants bod. of clustering in middle of the floor. retailing gos- sip, whilo the customer had to squeeze by to reach the counter. This was anything but business- like and I am glad to see that tho

The directors of the Silver !'ox"the Dominion Fur-Council in Ot-

ln Montreal by the Montreal Fur_ “takes over the place-n w_ a Dons.- Auction Company (Canada) Llm-wfigas,

tawa with members attending representing the different fur or- ganizations throughout the Do- minion. No doubt the matter of sales tax will be taken up and a r ‘on sent to Mr. Ilsley. Oth- or matters for discussion will be more provision for cold storage, a change in the system of grad- ing pelts, the outlook for‘ other markets after the war and other questions that affect the rank and file of fur farmers. At the Silver Fox Breeders‘ and Exhibitors‘ Ae- sociation meeting, Lowell W. Han- cock was appointed to represent it at the above meeting. George A. Callbeck is attending for Can- adian National Silver Fox Breed- ers’ Association.

Several fox farmers have re- ported to us that the are having a great deal of troube with fleas and that the situation is made worse by the fact that Pulvex and other good brands of flea pow- der have not been available. How- ever, we note by a recent, ad of W. R. Jenkins in this paper that he is xpectln a suppy vex which may have arrived by now, so we would advise all fox

with him and go after the fleas.

Fleas are very detrimental to the general health of foxes. They are blood-sucking pests that cause the foxes to become restless, anaemic and generally unthrifty. There is also considerable damage to fur because of continuous scratching and biting as well a: from the accumulation of excreta from the insects which becomes mixed with the hair and skin. An examination should be ‘bade of the back and neck of the, fox. parting the fur, and it will, if fleas are present, reveal either mites or the presence cf live fleas or perhaps some excrement which the fleas have left

1

As a rule they congregate around the head and neck. Fleasi are said to secrete a toxin during the process of blood sucking and when foxes absorb a. quantity of this the fur becomes dry ilnd lus- terless. The control of fleas on any ranch is comparatively easy pro- viding you use a good flea powder. The fox should be dusted all over and the kennel and houses should be sprayed or washed with a good coal tar disinfectant, using a strength of between one in forty or one in sixty for spraying, or one in elgiitv if washed out. The coal tar disinfectant seems to have a very deterrent effect on fleas, they vacate the premises or succumb to its fumes. Person- ally, we hove used this for many

ears and our ranch as far as we

now is comparatively free of

Earmites. - - When speaking of fleas and the examination for them it. is well to remember that earmites are also present in a con- siderable number of foxes and un- less all your foxes tare treated at regular intervals there is_ a chance of earmites developing and going right through your whole herd. It is easy to detect the mites, the deeper portions of the outer ear are usual. led with a brownish. scabby ma- terial. If a tiny bit of this is put under the microscope it will show hundreds of crab-like creatures with all kinds f little legs which they are movin furiously.

-——w

If you find on examination that one of your foxes has earmitesi ou can be pretty sure they all] lave a certain number of them. unless you have been treating them. The problem of clearing up earmites is much less complicated than the flea problem, because there are many good earmite lot- ions on the market. We particu- larly reommcnd the formula of the writer which is made up by the Baird Drug Company and is for sale in most general stores. It has been our standby in the ranch for twenty years and we keep the ear- mites.well under control with it.

Parasites. - - At present we are dosing all our pups and adults with capsules for hookworm and round worm. It is routine with us at this season of the year, and while .1 great many of them may not require any treatment at all yet we are not in a position tu afford the time to give each one a microscopic examination, which would be the only way you could be sure. We feel it is better to treat them all as we have never experienced any ill results and we believe have seen great benefit to our foxes by doing so.

From now on will be pelt de- veloping time and any care and attention you can give your foxes will be well repaid in more money for the finished pelts. While at present the outlook is not too rosy yet if we can get the sales tax reduced and if the OPA in the USA. will really come down with a scnsibleAprice fixing schedule

iv filled or partially fll-' 1

l Ilse iir. ffrenoh’: Vermicide

i Capsule: , . OXES

All Foxes over three months old are considered adults and i

should be dosed with Dr. Ffreneh’: Capsules No. 1 size.

All good ranchers know of this excellent Worm Remedy and “ .--Dr. Ifrench’: Cap-

iake no chances with unknown an

lulu have been prcven for many years and are known for their

quick and ssh action.

Don't fail in take ldvlnhgo of the wonderful results obhlnad by tho use 'of Dr. Ffreneh‘; No. 1 Vermlcido Capsules. They will

nvc your foxes from this deadly menace.

—PRICES- $1.00 for 30 Capsules.