f lrr.

s llljl

' dug, were marked with dark atch-

“Egret/loan 21. 1941

"i NEWSY

"His; ADVnv-vn u.» TnE runes"

1 the tlteoiachunky volume

l?‘ txlie gubllc Library. Now the word

ch int this calsle Iilxlléflni

_ -_ - species tha calLselt e s o

gllfiiaaflltld crops-is pretty nearly mmllema to the ordinary reads

tcohn Large. Wh° I oxford. Ell! and. in 1940. is - n.3,», something of a historian and : , poet as wel as a scientist, and z ha; made good use of the attributes “at all three: and the result is both informative and interesting. 1-12 doe, not give much classiiicatory description: in fact he has a slap e late George Massee of Kew,

ublished a. systematic "flora",

tish Fungi in four vol.

w", one need not agree with Prof.‘ rgc in disparaging such works. co they have the same function n; charts have to an exploreni .“rnaj(-ver goal tempts the botan» ‘at afield, the systematist assures him that at ‘cast his fer-t are on the right road. By means of Mas- ‘ W's British Fun us-Flora-which l brought over w th me I have ‘been ena.bled to identify a very considerable numbsr oi our furvi ~ particularly‘ the larger species.» magi are much the same, on both sidzs of the Atlantic.

The first hundred pages of the bog}; under comment. are taken up with an account of the Potato Mur- rain. You may not recognize our old enemy, the "Blight" under that mime, but that is what is meant. 1a August, 1845, The Gardeners chronicle (of London) Billie warn- that a. new disease had brok. en out. on the Continent. among me potatoes; and by 5e iember it llsd invaded all Erlglan elxce t a iew spots in the north. Every nd or potato was attacked, and all when

i

(5 symptomatic of the murra n.

A review of the seasons of 1845. reminds one oi that of 1940 on P. ll). island. There was in Britain a hot dry spell till. the end of Ju1y.. t-‘len a most extraordinary change to incessant rain and fog. with a Jamperature lower than had been

the case for a couple of decades

we two had a wet fall last year, and 1t has snowed or rained near- 1y all the time since then. with temperature well below the average, just the kind'of weather to foster til‘ "murrain" too.

Immediately a battle was joined as to the cause oi the visitation. Dr. Llndley, the most eminent bot- anist. of his day. contended that the potatoes had absorbed so much voter. which they could not get m of in the usual way owing to ebsmce of sunshine. that thev took "g kind oi dropsy" and putrifac- trn set ln. The Rev. M. Ji Berke- l-v. a brilliant example of those rlergy-men of the Established Church who became eminent no. iuralists. gave his verdict that the clufe of the disease was a micros- clnlc fungus. Time has proved the clerlzvlnan right and the botanist wrong: the fact remained that the weather favored the spread of the 11109115 and nothing could be done

stall

The loss of the potato crop in Fvfiland was bad enough, but in Poland it was disastrous. The people there had come to rely mainly on the potato as an artlc'e of food and for ten months of the nr used little else. The months of lllv and August were called "Meal Months" since grain was added to the bill oi fare at that time The history of the time makes pitiable ‘reading and Professor Large does not hesitate to ive the sordid de- tails of the sys em oi land tenure iluthc sister kingdom. The crcslg fsied Mlain in i846. and the Britt Iulcrnment was obliged to pay out. olficial relief-the first ever paid - to the amount of 8.000.000 pounds for the 18 months period. Such was "l! Millage ‘ by a small fun- Illl that "in the period rom 1845 til 1860 e. million people d ed in Ire. land alone as a direct consequence Olvthc famine and one and a half mllion emigrated." And not only from Ireland: get out the old Mecchamis Atlas of P. E. Island null notice how many from all Darts of the United Kingdom, made £11131" home here in those doleful

s.

So 1lit‘e was known about plant disease in those days, that people rather than believe in a causal (not casuall) organism, put the malady illlwn to ‘electricity? "degenera- ll-llll.’ "Will oi God." or a supposed internarbllrrlihg of the plant ow- all to the oxygen oi the air being P" strolls ml it." As science ad- lfll§ed and optical apparatus im- ll-oted these fancies were thrust $159M‘ the facts discovered. and ills bsmc was placed where it be filled. Thou suddenly all went again: the potato crop once more -not as badly ‘i 0301's however -and this time ‘ i“? will no fungus visible to take "r blame. rt was the first intima- "(in that. bacteria attached plants :1‘ Well as humans. Since 1990 we mllve been made‘ aware that even ‘We subtle lnsadies. the A. B. a . and Y and the ma! Roll virus- c? have taken m: of the potato ldllll- lllld many others have been

£90 to the list since 1930. m 0w the above l: rather on the m elltiiic side but do not get the

ti! that Prof. Lane's book is not the laymen. It caters for. and

i ' lg?" there were the several mark-

) the sea. or bo- llurnl for fuel. m Great all-

"in: b01111! operatih to restrict reduction and to ma ntsin prices, l‘ Pitt for the producers. but more sartieu srly for the distributor. dllder thin cover of some real 91ml‘ ‘to improve grades and

. - Quito an iconoclast ls of. Large! with his book. despite mess c! cynical humor, is well Worth reading,

ooos AND suns

ill-limits. A ragraph recently in

ital! til". cl. 21"...‘ ""4". ' . c ’

"with. i bcr bc-

,_

NOTES —

B! AGIQIOOLA

1s e........teo xlcln as A\v(AI\1sI| not, its roots. ‘nus psulcsple ls a must valu. aole heart stimulant when proper- ;ly employed; though ln large noses ll- l-s lwlsonous. 1. notice that the ‘Jeeves-sop m fair condlnon ln our winter, and cattle when lirst let our. make for the green food at once: out alter one mouthful leave lt severely alone. when medl- clll men discarded vegeuwle [c.111- eoles for mineral drugs, tney re- tained Digitalis, for which they rouno no substitute. urug Slllllllles scarce. _The war has turned the drug business up- sloe down. much of the drug ma- wllfll was grown in Europe and exported to Engand and America wllere it was milled, distilled or otherwise rendered commercially avallaole. .That source oi supply is utterly cut off -and likely to be. Bo the British are gathering a nar- vest oi what were once called weeds, l-nd sell it to the lnanu. film-Willi dfllflkis . The dandelloui root-s (mentioned above) are gath- ered ior their hepatic, stimulant‘ and tonic properties, and probably yleld a good return to the har-_ V6509“; they are priced higher, than digitalis leaves. Another item‘ lll the news is that dried nettles brine £30 to {so r ton. There is a good fibre in t e stalk oi the nettle, ust as there is in flax but I‘d pre er to other the latterl | Tile Islan Benefits by ls-

l

l uarcity. A certain amount oi a sea- '

weed called "lrlsll Moss" is bein , sent from this Province to the drug- manufacturers in the U. s, A, It has been used here for a veryl lilllg time as the source of a kind! cf jelly. a gift oi which by one oft my readers I hold in ul re. membrance. It has more than a food value and is listed as nutrient. demulcent and expectnrant. When

it. is sold wholesale at 34 . per lb. the price to the harvester ls not given. There are many native weeds which have medicinal properties, but it is not easy to obtain the proper appraisal of their value. A long ex rience oi such matters suggests at the price to the harvester will be from one-third to one-quarter of the wholesale price. The harvester ls expected to gather, clean. and dry the raw roduct, and to prepay shipment n most cases.

A New Record for our Flora. Through the courtesy of Prof. R. R. Hurst, City, I have been per- mitted to examine a plant oi Basil Thyme or Basil Balm (Satureja Aclnos til.) Scheele.) which has been found growing wild in the Is- land, in King's County I under. is a twin-brother to the summer Savory of the gardens and is probably a garden escape itself in the first place. It has a ver strong smell as most of the lab ates have: 1n this case it is stron 2y reminiscent of the creepng Ground Ivy (Nepeta). Most plants have a salient fea- ture w ich at once makes known the species, and in this case it is the gibbous form oi the calyx tube, whic is strongly constricted at the throat. As to its botanical status, the Basil Thyme has been “kicked from pillar to post" as “Tyrlcsiders say; and it has ac- curred a number oi aliases. It has been called Calamlntha, C1inopod- ium, Thymus, Aclnos, and as we have just seelnsatureja. all generic names given by different botanists. Probaby the plant has medicinal qualities. t'"~ popular name Balm lndicates this.

A Bonn... t rcbo was brought in for determination this morning; it was shot last night in mistake for a duck, which it resembles in its aquatic habits. But the Grebe may be dlstin ished by three things: its beak, ts tail, and its feet. Un- like the duck which has a flat beak, the bill of the grebe is point- ed. like that of a domestic hen. As fol the tail, it has none! The grebe's feet are webbed, but with this difference: each toe has its

rested to bring in another ship-

own individual web, instead of a

mmon web joining s11 the toes as ducks have. The male grebe has two ear-tufts of feathers which account for the popular name: the female has none. This was the second grebe shot in this district. the previous occurrence being on

Nov. 20, 1932. Both birds were females. Amateurs find it difficult to

identify some of our birds. First, there may be a difference of color and ornament between the sexes. as in the grebes. Thon there sea. sonal shanges: the buffy white ear-tufts, and rich chestnut which colors the neck of the male grebe, tum to a p‘aln gray in winter. 1n some pirds the plumage of the oung differs considerably from

at of the adult bird. Eor instance the young robin has breast dotted w th brown spots, which it loses in its second year.

A few birds have "color-phases"; as the Screech Owl has. These have nothin to do with sex sea. son. or age; ut two owl; may have different colors. One bird has de- veloped a brclwnish plumage, the other is of a dark or ‘r’ ‘l co'or. .111 these features are stumbling- blocks to the amateur observer.

TIMELY NOTES ON T CONNECTED WIT

Silver Fox Farming

The Japanese had a surplus of. silver fox pelts this season which they wished to sell in the United States but were not permitted. They have since found" a market in Ar- gentina. where they have dsposed of 10.000 skins, completely satisfy- ing the local demand. They are ex-

rnent in October. This will have the affect of shutting out quite a num- ber of United States and Canadian sliver fox pelts but not the high quality ones, a4 the Japanese skins are notorious for t.‘ quality, be- ing fed mostly on a llsll diet.

Approximately 86% of the silver offerfilg of the New York Auction Company was disposed of last week at an average rise of 15 per cent for the $10 and upgrade values, and of 10 per cent for the ranges under that leve-l, and for the darker phases as compared with July. There were 4,619 full silvers auctioned and they brought an average price oi $40.28 with a high of $175 for a. large, very bright. full furred sparking pelt. There were,

OPICS H

l

foxes, red foxes, white forces 1nd» m

Perhaps our readers are not aware, but it is a fact that the ex- port of Australian rabbit skins has i

quadrupled in the past couple of 5g Arm,“ gnu-m, Chicago, 111.)

years or since the war started. In the l2 months to April 30th, 1941, 9,000,000 lbs.. of skins, representing 60,000,000 rabbits and valued at. nearly 87000000, were exported f

from Australia mostly to the 4m“ he c511; m; sprlt." Kindness is an indescrib-

Unlted States. This means that t there is probably 100000.000 lbs. or]

more of rabbit rreat available for 1 nature and of human touch, which 796M118 m! Wall"! animal-i 5° m" draws others to us, and easily and fox breeders can see what a trem- Hahn-any 19,455 u; to gmqoth the endous industry could be developed , way o; in fur farming providing it WBS]pQ51b1g_ skilfully directed and handled. '

The East Canadian international l

trophies will be g‘ven for top ani-

mals in all classes. Their Excellen- an auyulred disposition,

1,274 three-quarters offered. '75"; icies, the Governor General the Earl '

of these sold at. an average of $28.06 and a top of $41. They were not a high-class collection. There were 1,512 hall's auctioned and 76']. of these averaged $21.37 with s. high of $32. Quarter silvers averaged $16.31. Low grades, of which lhere were 8,362, averaged $13.78. The average for the collection omitting the low grades was $32.26.

i

Nutrla fanns are closing up 1n the Argentina and there are now only about twenty left because the cost of breeding proved too high in comparison with prices obtainable. The ranched nutraim also lacked the uniformity of color found on wild , animals. For sometime they found a market in the south until the buyers becrme aware of the differ- ence in color between the wild and farm bred animals. but now they cannot be marketed at a profitable price.

There is a strong demand in the United States for Argentina fox skins, of which 00% of the Argen- tna stocks have already been sold at prices ranging from 30% to 40% above last year's levels. Argentina shipments of fox skins to the United States from January to July, 1941, totalled 123.205 against 65.647 for the corresponding period of 1940. We don't know just what type of skin an Argentina fox is but we presume they must be very . much cheaper than red foxes.

t l

According to the Canadian Com- mercial Irltelligence Journal the ban on the importation oi fllrs into Australia has directed attention ml the possiblllty of establishing a fur

industry there. In the year ending

June 30th, 1939. Australia imported

undressed furs to the value 0i

61.250000, the principal suppliers. be'ng the United States with - 9350.000 worth and Canada with

about the same. Recentll’ the Vl°"\ torla State Government has been‘ approached for permission to im-I port, pedigreed silver foxes and to] establish silver fox forms in thet colder parts of the State. It is‘ rld-erst/sod that sites have already been selected for an experimental farm which would be stocked with silver foxes estimated about 51,000 a pair, Foxes would be scientifically bred and reared on~ the farms.

In Tasmania also the breedhg of l fur bearing animals on an exten-l sive scale is contempplated by ai company which has applied to thel Government,for the lease of suit- able swamp country. They will flrst breed Tasmanian water rats-sim- ilar to our muskrats-and after er- gage in breeding slver foxes, cross

I

i

iiicholsonsFoxiiealthi

animal!‘ fllztlsTonygilvelsnygl-l all: " tone up e D6 50mg w ""3..." there Iglofngmtfi‘ u a

Bhowaihillgereltynsllow and the: pelt, you wi’l have for sale.

1f you were selected to ham! a llotwn on a lady in a ole-making contest you would have to b55- your judgment on the pies. not 0n m, lgdy’; appearance. At thatt‘. it. would hurt one mightily i0 i"

d! ma‘. 4 lulu‘: 0:11- mum the Dakar-N rill- ',”_ U” sml about t e Nui- nos of West Africa In ugh: g practical turn lnglnccrn and ‘ma’? i? '13. an iortiMII U. one M in on "l: sum was. m mllfl will Dakar. This I'M“ l" "m": all» to tlfl MI "957 h") ‘

- t

isetlt. 13-27.

m I“; Q15 prize i0 0B6 OI H106‘- old "dreadnoughts and D989 "ll i real "peach" regardless of the

this year but start in feeding

"Nicholson's Fox Health‘ to {on};

show foxes and m" “J 9°" e‘ judge. This powder is

l“ e all:

. - l" eac x. ce.

l i? ‘delivered, 1f you men- tion this paper. Send mone order for what you went. 0

l Charlottetown call and bpy I

' CM! supply null quell"?-

l-llohoisolfs Horse Health, price 2

n» box ‘l0 cents delivered.

Ii “HLIIIBIIIILSOII

2m Ken‘. st. chal-lemwwa. P, s. 1. IriI-lall-I.

‘.4

also be on view. They are now at

pies. so don't embarrass the Judge l

the Athlone and Princess Alice are

being invited to inspect the plat-, inums as they are being judged. A l pair of Imperial Chinchilla will 5 Tom McCllKs ranch. Pakcnharn. i The standard silvers will be jlldqzei

on November 13th.

In this province the Prov. stver Pb". Show will be held Nov. 10th to 14th inclusive at Charlottetown. It will probably be the larcest show of all time with possibly the excep- tion of 1930 when over 700 animals -if memory is correct-were ex- hibited. There will be classes for registered silvers. unregistered sil- vers and the new types of white- face, ring-neck, near-plaiinunls and platinums. Great preparations are being made by a large number of breeders and all who are inter- ested in fur farming should plan t0 attend.

The Fur Trade Journal of Can- ada, September issue. has a very fine cut of Frank l". Tuplin of Cloverdale. B. C.. formerly of New Annan. P.E.I. The following write- up surrounds it: “The newest thing in fur fashions. where cost is no obstacle, is the platium fox and the white-faced fox, reports the mana- ger of the Hudson's Bay raw fur department, Vancouver, B. C. Re- cently, he says, the company pur- chased from F. F. Tuplin, who operates a ranch near Clover-dale, some of the largegt and finest specimens of those varieties of pelts it has ever handled. The new color shading, and markings on the fox pelts are freakish. In the trade they are known as the new freaks. The platinum is now the highest-priced fur on the market, many of the raw pelts having been sold at from $400 to $600 each, with some spec.- ialiy good ones at even a higher figure.

“Platinum foxes cannot be got without the white-faced freak which has only recently been pro- duoed, says Mr. Tuplin, who ex- plains that the whic-face is ma‘ed ' with the common silver fox. the offspring being a litter of pups. half of which may be white-faces and the other half common sllveni with occasionally a platinum in the i same brood. The white-faces take, their name from the fact that they , have a white face, some whit,- onwi the neck, and occasionaliv a ring clear around the neck. Thcv have white feel and legs and whit:- on the breast and belly, Usually they are of large size, qllet and easy to

i handle. They are simply a mutation 01"‘

or freak. The main rcqltirenlctlt lll producing the platinum. Mr. Tuplin explains, is to have the female as white and s‘lvery as possible.

The new color varieties in the fox pelts have given new llie to the i fur business and ranchers every- ‘ where are scouring the country lr. truest of white-faces and platinllms for breeding purposes. ffgh prices are being paid for desired speci- mens. Mr. Tuplin is a p fox ranching and has been in business for more than forty years, h's early ventures being in Prince Edward Island.

We note the following in the Fur

lTrade Journal re Claude HDIIHOIZS i

change in residence from Montreal to Calgary . . Mr. Holman wrivss that during the early Spring months of this year it. became evid- ent that the Platinum Fox Breed- ers’ Associavon was not receiving sufilcfcnt support and cooperation from tllejrefiicrs of the new-type

more than mere good nature. It is _ good nature elevated to a 111211 Platnum Fox Show, open to the iplace, springing from the purest world. will be held at Smith's Falls, l Mauve 5L pa,“ rinks it with 1o,~e_ Ontario, November 12118-14. It will ‘ivy-he Kmdne; and lgvg 01' God our be held in connection with the ‘savior towards Men,"

mink and silver fox show. Valuable i

‘after it has been taken off a few

lnlem until November 15th at least.

‘ever and above the cost of produc-

ioneer in eiahts and darks the no outstanding pelts among ulcm.