JULY 19. 1941

- NEWSY NOTES -

I! AGIJOOLA

NOTES ON WINDSOR. BEANS

i

Windsor Beans, often celled Broad Beans in England. belong to m, genus Faba, while the French m- garicot Beans are varieties o’ the genus Ph1seolus. The latter has geeds of an elongated shape, there- by earning the name of Kidney Beans as well; but after noting that all Canadian garden beans are 1mm; of ille so-called French Beans, we may dismiss them for the present.

1; has been stated by some of m, older botanists that beans were b-ought into Britain during the Roman occupation o! the Island; that the Romans had them from u... Greeks along with other bene- fits, material and immaterial; and the Greeks in turn are supposed to have imported the original beans mm Egypt. though the usual rcllrces of evidence are silent on ii is point. It seems scarcely pos- sible that Broad Beans have come by this route. for they are "as hard as nails." and may be planted as soon as the land can tie worked, regardless of night frosts. Such an immunity to frost-bite would show that this bean is s native of cen- tral. rather than sub-tropical, Eur- o . pleiroad Beans appear in authentic hkstory in two forms of the same gpecfesj just as the human race may be divided into different types of homo sapiens.

Tre Field Bean differs principally in the seed being smaller. and its coat a. deeper brown at maturity. This is the kind entioned by cambbell irl his ‘Political survey.” published in 1774: he 85y! that "field beans are exported for the food of the negroes in our planta- tions. and are employed in feeding horses at home; so that altogether they are in daily use, and most cer- ulinly turn to a considerable amount." Another writer. at the game date. says that the annual consumption of field beans W88 four million bushels; and this vast quantity was grown mainly ill South-eastern Ensland. HOW i110 negroes made use of them is not divulged, but dried broad beans are never used as human food in ‘Bri- tain. when fed to horses they were "cracked" first, and then mix- ed with oats in certain proportions: this diet was generally reserved for horses that were at hard work. and required strong rations. NOW my mders will understand why "CED- taln Jinks of the Horse Marines." fed his horse on corn (oats) and beans, in the old song. Such beans were also given to p18! in ll" 1”‘ tening pen.

The Garden Bean is the Broad Bean I trad in mind when b98111"- lng this note. Pratically all the dif- ference betwen it and the field bean is that its seeds are inJBQT- A minor difference is ihllt 50ml strains of Broad Beans have white- skinned seeds while others ha" green-skinned seeds; but the seed! oi both oxidize and turn brown very soon after being "shelled." which somewhat spoils their IP- pearanoe for market. A field 0i beans in flower ls not only a pretty sight, but the perfumfi Ellie" °" l‘ very agreeable. The flower is. 0i course. of the leguminous tylll- Ind ll white in color with a black spot on the wings; and the black is I real black. not a maroon not‘ a deep violet; in fact there is noth- ing to equal it in plant life, I ima- gine.

sil- Humphpey navy once sully- sed the flour made from been: 0i this species and found that 0M ilfousand parts of flour ykldfld 57° car's of nutritive matter. of which m were mucllage and starch. 100 gluten, and 4i extract. It was ills opinion, based on these findinzl- that the flour of beans was mo" nutritious than that of oats, but wa, not as digestible. The usual way, however, of preparing broad beans for food ls not by milillll. but by simply boiling ille seeds till they are tender: in that state thily usually accompanied boiled hsm lo the table, Not everybody iikF-l broad beans at first; a small min- llliiy must acquire the taste lor iheln, and s still smaller minority Rivet them altogether. Those who acquire the taste, like most con- verts are apt to overdo it. I knew vi a case where s youth, after sev- eral helpings of broad beans, devel- llllvd a severe case of colic. Beans "l! a grand food. but "strong".

As far as I can gather Broad Beans are not often grown in this tountry. partly (I thlnkl because of the drier climate, and partly l!’ "use of insect pests. The seeds "ill-at be planted early, as already "lied, about four in-l es apart and M less than two inches deep; if bore than one row is crown the "W! must be three feet apart. When the sappy young plants sp- llll’ above ground they quickly at- tract the attention of thgcutworrns Who are very fond of them. In a gar- ‘lfll one mavcounte thecutworrns by encircling the plants w"l- ‘half- ml“ for a time: that is, salmon or "her caps cut down. "rese must be liken off ihe plant when ihc stemS Ilt hard. Pretty soon w-e plant will "ole "met-rs" at the base of the “"11; and it is good practice to re- move the-e: so lllV the “Milli-Sh car- ‘hmll- Ti the summer should be g?! another insect enemv 1s the

m: the ants will tsp the stems ‘l sround level. to dring the juice. a! a cicl-‘rice forms. the elem is hlllfll at a d'fferent pilc- every m! till it may be girdled Bed evflllh: but the ants have habit

ll wars»: they carry green ap- m‘ ""1 Mature item on the roots °lll=o hem snd they-carry black

llphldt; ttoththe succulent slow e. e summit. when the first sign of the “black dolphin" (Willa) llllleara. the English but. taper lnips off three luau... o, m from the top of his broad beans: lglfwlns that the tougher stems

0W are hot as attractive to the peat. A good top-dressing with g 33ers! quantity of wood ashes will

"Wise the root pests and invi. 80x15?‘ the beans.

mllly Wars since

the Broad Bean seed, ans al.1333112,‘? Mlffd to be very mixed "pom-l. flee» Most b: the ma, coujal“ed one or two beans. and s very few had three seeds. Only m, "mun" were saved for seed and the pro. wla Was continued till thrm be- came the normal number in the pod. Ten or eleven years on to mag have made four beans in the pod quite common, with natlrc spun- l"! l. "five' sometimes: out s check to the growfn of the puma, m. a bad 595W" "my cause a throwback to a lower number. There is a par- able in that if one only us: gnQugh imllinllilln to give it form.

I have gone rather closely into the culture of the Broad Bean, in. "ll-R. first it is a nutritious and "Qty 100d: and second. because r hope to have a. little, a vary llflflg, h-‘Bh class seed to give away in the fall. 8o preserve this now, i1 you are interested.

young

NOTES ON ISLAND PLANTS The Cucurbltanoup,

This Family takes its name from Cllellrbiin. an ola Latin name for I. cucumber or sump m“ o; a Eourd. Strictly speaking this '5 not a cucumber country, for, sill-ouch We c"! Brow them easily enough in our summer season, their seeds "mot lltund our winter, and must b0 “pt in a frost-pile»! piuce till next Plllllllllit time. Our Balsam Apple or Wild Cucumber. Echln oeyatls lobatl. the only one of the family claimed as naturalized, has no such failing, but seems origin- ally to have escaped from some Borden, and to have reproduced it- lfilf by self-sown seeds. The plant is exuberant in growth when givcn the advantage of rich moist soil. and is often used for covering trellis, arbors. and similar struc- tures. The hard flat seeds were strung together for beads by the American Indians. The plant itself was known to the Olllahas as "Watsngtha." which means i|.-.e "Ghost melon."

The CIDIDIIIIIIIIOOII

The wonderfully numerous "Fue- bell family" has, strange to say. but one representative in this Pro- vince; the Creeping Bellflower. Cunponuls. rspnncllloldes. It was found by Prof. Herbert Groh. when he made a Weed survey of the Is- land in 1928. It is the rootstock that does ii:e creeping, by means oi subterranean stolons. The rather slender stem may reach a height of two feet and - bears a one-sided (secund) raceme of large bright blue flowers, the lowest of which opens first. (It is necessary to notice this as some species are very similar in appearance, but the top- most flower opens first). The home of this bellflower was originally in western Siberia.

KERGUELEN ISLAND

If you take a lnsp of the world and examine the space between the southern tip of Africa and the south polar regions. you will find several groups of islands forming an irregular chain. These are Prince Edward Island, with its companion Marion 1a.; crozet Is.; Amsterdam 1a.: and 5t. Paul Is. Below Amsterdam 1a.. lies Kergue- len fs.. snd still further south Mc- Donald Is. Moat of these are in- eluded in the British Empire. though it is probable that they have no permanent inhabitants. Admir- alty and other soundings have proved that below these islands lies a high submarine plateau. of which the islands Wemselves are the higher peaks, that have escaped the general subsidence at some prehistoric date. Proof of this is to be found in the similarity in the flora and fauna. of the islands: and it l.s remarkable that their vegeta- tion has an affinity with that of Africa, as Bir J. D. Hooker long ago pointed out: if anything it msembles that of South Amerlcal

Kerguelen Island has many re- mains of petrified folests, mute evidence of a warmer climate than it now possesses. rt is plainly vol- canic in its origin, and indeed an active crater and some Izot springs ere said to exist on the south-west of the island. But the climate is not now favorable in permanent vegetation and Kerguelen. when first discovered (i772 was given the altemetive name of Desolation Is- land, by which it is still occassi ally ltnowmft lies within the belt of s constant "rainy season“: it has no drying winds. and its tempera- ture ls kept down bv the presence of a vast expanse of sea and the cold Antarctic drift. Tempests snd squalls are frequent, and the weather ls rarely calm. Wiih all there disadvantages. Sir J. D. Hooker found twenty-seven species of flowering plants, snd perhaps two hundred species of ferns.

. snd lichens. maintaining themselves on "Desolation Island." Bird life, being undisturbed by animals or humans. abound; and some of the species are sliid to be peculiar to the island. There are many forms of insect life. but the

maintain

only animals able to

f6

t NE Y NA TURE N O TES i By Stuart t’. Thompson

"IN CLOVER"

“NOW. we are 1n clover.’ Whey- W" ‘hi8 Saying may have come 1mm. there never was a time wnen it was more true than these mid- “mm” diys of July.

when We think of clover, our Ill-lids 7941311 a tlumble little plan's with lie head of florets and the "llwlllld orransemehl Of leaflets ""1 Perhllps. the strange whimsi- cal sllilerstitlon of the four-leafed clover which has caused many a childish search for this symbol o: good luck. Little do the happy finders realize that this much. WlIQ-t-for trophy is really a freak 0! nature. for the authentic ciovel is so obviously divided into three that it has become an emblem of the Trinity.

It is said that when Balm p“-

rick visited Ireland h; was 011g; pressed to explain his doctrine of the Tfilllily. Stooping down he pick- ed a leaf from it plant at ills feet and held it up. It is generally be. lieved that this plant was a sham- rock, ancl ever since we have had the three-leafed shamrock as the emblem of the Emerald Isle. I Suppose had it happened that the good saint had found at his {ecu a clover plant and held its leaf aloft, then the countrys emblem would have been the OIOVGP-With equal significance. There are in Canada many Species of clover. The best known ls perhaps the beautiful red clover. Whole acres are grown for fodder. so that its large purplel railzer thal. red, flowers and ample foliage is u common sight throughout the country.

Another common variety is alslke clover. Idke red, it is cultivated ex- tensively. but can be easily distin- gulshed from red by its rose-tinted flowers. Alslke is the most fragrant of the family. I recall one summer day driving along a road with an outdoor friend. Suddenly he ex- claimed "smell the alsike," and at that moment across the road iron it nearby field came rich sweet fra- grance of this clover as it might be a warm wholesome breath of a summer clay.

Then there is white clover-a low pretty little plant wiill its white head-differing from the others in having its head of flowers on s separate stem instead of a leafv one.

Two varieties of clover are known as hop clovers, and though they grow much the same as the others, their yellow flowers at once distin- guish them.

But these are all summer clovers. rn September. on the hillsides and sandy glades is a low variety. It has no bright colors, but its tri- foliate leaves at once mark it as a variety. its most conspicuous characteristic is the woolly flower- heads which look like nothing so much as a rabbit's foot. Hence the apt name, rabbit's foot clover. And of course we ought to men- tion the sweet clovers, both white and yellow. those lofty weeds which grow so densely in neglected fifllfle. Though they are not really true clovers, we can at once see the family resemblance. There was a time not so long H80 when ll“? sweet clovers were considered b-ld weeds. but now are valued as en- sllage and harvested as aliph- would that we could find such im- portant use for all the luxuriant weeds which so abundantly encum- ber the land.

Whether red. white. alsike. bop. rabbitb foot. or the so-cailed sweet clover, all have the same style of flowering; a head of tiny illeglllll‘ florets and the wellknown distinc- tive arrangement of three leaflet: on the stem. 5o it was by the mer- 9g}, grance that good Saint Patrick plucked and lifted up to fame the insignificant little-known sham- rock, instead of the useful extensive family which we now know as the

' clovers.

themselves. are marine. "fill ll seals, sea leopards and sea ele- phants, 1g is doubtful whether these animals exist in any numb" now, since the Island is a resort of the whalers. a notoriously destruc- tive folk. These visit the island to renew their water supply, from its gprlngg and in nrocure the Kergue- len Island Cabbage. (Prinfllefl Ell- tiscorbutlcal whose spliciilc "time commemorates its use slain-ii “l” old-time scourge of the marine? scurvy. This plant looks like a ill‘- dm cabbage and is found in no offer part of the world.

The island is of fair size. B3 mile! long snd '19 broad at its widest part. Many shipwrecks have occurr- ed in (m; region and some imes sailors have been forced to winiol’ on this inhospitable land. I hope to refer to the narrative of 5ll¢ll a castaway shortly.

c. u. n. lu-zvcuuycs

MONTREAL. Que-July 1e lrroes revenues for the

dim July l4 as . as compared with 501 for the some lnchease of $9.409

week en

Jam making allow it to rot

_ -'f‘he

all infill-live . Railways or ‘le Canadian National m. “m. were $5.494.- week of i940. An or one per cent

LONDON-(CF-The govern- ment his appealed to oolllltfy women to take surplus fruit f0 centres rather than in the fields because of musllelsllt mu to pM-m it»

TIMELY NOTES ON TOPICS

CONN ECTED WITH

r

Kilver Fox Farming '

Fills ane very extensively and cheaply grown in California alzo have been highly recommended as an adjunct to the diet of silver fox- es. in certain parts of Russia. dur- lnsz the hot months dried fills some- times form the complete diet. so an experiment was undertaken to sce whether a fox could live on a diet of iizs. For test purposes a poly- zamous male fux was led 10o oer cent ration of dried fins for a per- iod of several months during which he grew a decent coat of durins the same test

produced impe- if

Quite a. controversy has been go- in: on as to whether the nesting of the sperm of a male with the microscope truly indicates potency or unpotency. Dr. Beth Osborne of Minnesota is of the opinion lhat the mason for finding dead sperm m the female may be due to an acid condition which will kill the sperm rapidly.

A great manv doctors who have studied the causes of barpeuness humans out it clown to aci-ditv and Rive a treatment. of injections of o. solution of bicarbonate of soda. We understand experiments along this line have been carried out with val- uable foxes with the result they bred and produced litter-s. Rank Gauthier. whose mink are United States for pelt val show purposes. is of

INS

making whelplng very difficult. This

may are fed. but in it. is not likely to be the case

in the United there were 212.5% sliver

W

ln Canada was in the vicinry cf

160.000.

Dr. Gassner of the Colonado Agri- cultural Coileae addressed a meeting of fur breeders in Denver recently. his sulblect being. “L055 of Pun; 1ft

out that marked a long step tsivttrfs clarification of the subject. These facts were-that the primary cause for lcss of pups at birth or a few days at i.s due to a toxic condition of the female developed durinrz pregnancy and reachinliz lls climax at lVhéiDlTll» It further ap- pears that this toxemia ls developed uity elimin- out indi-

io the point of rather acute constipation. It is easy to see that this acute condition might readily result in toxemia in the pups before birth and toxic milk in the vixen. either of which might be fatal to the pups, and if both there would be s. very slim chance for the pups to survive. F‘u.r- ther steps were brought out that KBVE reason to substantiate this conclusion. namely: certain vixens wheiplnlz towards the last e-rld of the

ministered a laxative oil and ut

30rd a laxative diet prior to whielpill normlal utters.

Dr. Cassner pointed out that final conclusons cannot be arrived at us:- til anchor breeding season. It ap- pears, “IOWCVGY. to be s nutritional problem where ingredients in the ration may be so seriously unplaced in ratio that the result is fauitv elimination in varying dleszrees. It does not appear that pun losses were g-peater from proven breeders than

narlcy be fed a ration that promotes free and normal elimination. This is _iust plain common sense. A more simplified diet in feeding would be better. Manlv diets are entirely Cgfllsfillilfii. with the net result-con- f on.

Carleton Deederer of Miami. n World. states that human grey hair can be restored to black or natur-

z

I

W uld b f ch m&m$."“““% lain be a a lo the loxes’ diet.

w prov in be well to look out. for them and

that

considered among the tops in the or the opinion ma» loo much Rround green bone m; therefore admitted that vitamin B the ration during the gestation per- iod is liable to produce oversize klls l Probably both vitamins have some-

. be true in some fox ranches les case of scientists lust well where large quantities of bone conclusions.

this province whole;

most. of the meat; are cold storage!

Recent surveys of the fur lndustryi llesola. and ale slung the

States S1113) that italtesooiré the I-‘gggral ogurtl , s 010-: ‘za .u amazes ause t ey c am cluced _durinz‘1940. It is‘ es imated mat the govermnenticci; and gale that. tnle production of sliver iCXfS llear martini: llas vlltualiy lulll d,

Birth." in which facts were brought

season on some ranches where the and everyone of us should endeavor losses have been heavy were ad- to cull out our poorer grades.

g. before our minds so that when noir- these vixens came through withi moaéld times come back we will have a

from pup vixens. The suggestion was offered that fur farmers should to see to at vinens dur-inn preg-

shark oil which is very rich in vlt- amin A. The Doctor found that lack of vitamin A was found to be associated with grey hair in every case studied. sometimes the reserve i of vitamin A is de ieled due to ln-i fectiqns. When s is the case the adnlinlstradon of shark oil removesl the cause. The test was made wl..h a vitamin A scope in the following manner-A person's vision was ex- aosed to a bright light and the time‘ taken for the vision to return lo normal after shutting off the bright light exposure compared with this of nolrrrlai vision which would be about four of lack Of