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B!

.- NEWSY NOTES -

AGRICOLA

WHO WAS GUN TEE?

received the following hlivgarrespondent who desires to ,. n lnco nlto: “Dear , in I119 ess of’ recent l of an ancien surveyors com- , brings tc mind the surve or's Gunters Chain which may ave m; and interesting history. but the books of information at ,, gre silent as far as 1t or its , [or is concerned. It apparent- “. masterpiece measures. ble as it is by the English foot .. yard. ans‘ having the advant- . of the decimal 1 system for ulatlng acreajzes and we think , oi-igiriaiOr is entitled to a place m; Hall of Fame for giving us instrument that never has been ..ved uilflll- p you have information on so . ancient matters you are the .. one we might ex ect to give my light on the su ject, if you u pardon a little idle curiosity. m a postscript m? ¢°Yl'»“5lil°llfl' . goes on “We enjoy reading your wsy Notes" and lcok ft taro Saturday's paper on ac up. of feature. We also 1""? hi8 FP- unity to thank you for the sam- oi soy Beans wrncu you so ...| sent." , “m glad to be of some assist- 1L0 my unknown friend, since he eis to my efforts insuch flatter- , terms. and also because he is . second, out 0i’ all who asked . land got) soybeans. who has . wledged their receipt! with regard inthese beans I am g to get hold of information n their domestic use. apart industrial and farm

efit all who have the beans. Now for Edmund Gunter. An 01d .. 1n my possession, says Gunter born in Hertfordshire in 159i, Welsh parents. He r ceived a ... education and in 1599 enrolled tstudent at Oxford. successively A., and in 1615,

th B‘ 1p " lilo ‘"2.’ ...- to a o cssor 1- nomy in rexam Co ego, .... in 9. This was a lion that enabled him to in- . e his mathematical granitic and . eld it till his death 1626. Gunter published several treatis- cr1 the Cross-staff, Quad- . , the Sector. . . nts- some of which were in tin. e also published his non Triangulorum." an ex- lve table oi sines and tangents . aver-y minute and degree the ilfl . ' ills practical inventio were (i) .. Gunner's Mngards long -- subdivided into I00 links. "Its . nass arises from its decimal cditesimal division and the fact v ll) square chains make an .-." (in The Euntilr-‘s Line, a thmic line usu y laid down , etc. (3) The uadrant," to find the -- of the y, the sun's azimuth," . (t) The Gunterk scale," called seamen ‘The Gunter, a large" . scale trsually two feet longbiy l-i inches wide." By means ht and a lr,of com- roblems in nav gation could

, ., an . r ordination)

. He hid w wooden measure of 5 1-2 Yards. ously termed the rod pole, or --)ns tbc basis of the newmea- ~ ' and by quadrupiing it 11c away the fraction, and so - ylrds became the new unit of euumment. Instead of a .. the more convenient chain i brought in. to suit this longer - t; and the inventor made a fur- er improvement by making ‘the ain of 100 equal links. It ‘s. how- mnot correct to say that tho - ain is divisible by feet and yards or each link is 7.92 inches long. d co uently not an aliguot -< toi a cot or a yard. Once on a time, during a winter hen I had little to do, I took it to my head to make a Gunters nin -with some changes, which ~~ correspondent may not class l-r - movements! It was. I found very ifficult with the means at my lmsal to make links 1.99 inches n3: but as the whole chain was ~ be 792 inches, then 99 lings of 9 ches in length would fill the ro- ulrements. Now, the links of I lllltci-‘s Chain are really short rrgth of steel wire with a circular eye" or loop worked on each end. lid some plan had to be evolved or making them all of the Mme rrect length. Finally I procured l ~ ort piece of hardwood lank. and lh a half inch bit rilled two vles through it. exactly seven chcs apart. Then 1 drove two- r li-inch bolts up through the link, so that their outside mea- urement was just eight inches. fier the wire (which had been tempered) was wound round one lt. to make the “eye? it was car- lfll to the other bolt where a imilar eye was formed: and the lull was slipced off the bolts. " en 99 links had accumulate" ti’ wcre joined together, and the lialn was put into the furnace rebamturv to rel-tempering it. . ‘Three of the links measured two tel: and nine‘ of them rneas “ ylrdsndcpper tags with the "mien I. 4. c. s. etc. were tr- ed at theproper links to mark e yards, To help in getting a Elli Blikle (often ‘llclllg a farm) a br iiixcd to the ands of the 24th. th! 6th Ind the can. links. and u. the - ginning of the first link. This

Fox Farm Choppers

out!» has been used once c t '1- by mm“ r \\ ce mufizicxwn‘ who found it quite T!!! BIRDS AT SOUTHPORT

I have also received this letter lsfnzhe ypupg nature student at ll Port. ear Agricola, Spring ieems to be here again and lias rousht ma birds with it. I think m“! 93 0"!‘ Prlng birds have come, 9309931! the Warblers and some g ers. ven some Warblers are ere. On March 1'lth. 193s, 1 ob. served a Song Sparrow, and on the 18th. a Fox S arrow came and fed by the door. n March 25th 1 saw a Wilhipnina Sparrow and a Tree rrow: on March 26th, I observ- a Bronze Crackle. On A ril 16th I saw a Flicker. and a cw clays later, a Vapor Sparrow. On April 19th, I observed a Marsh Hawk, and a bird which I thought wag the Oven Bird. though it may have been some kind of s. Sparrow, Qn lrr-lplrlilllagbtlévf gaw a fiemale Black- ar .er an a M ’

Warbler. Bgnoha The Purple Firwhes arrived a few days ago. Sunday May 1st, I saw a Hermit Thrush, and some While- crowned Sparrows and Juncos came almost to the door. The Hermit Thrush was the first I ever saw. A 1r of R/obrns have nested bv the ouse every year and have begun building again this year. The Arctic Owls seemed numerous here this ear and several were shot. Today.

ay 3rd, I saw a Vireo, either a

-eyed or a Warbling. Well, Agricola, I think I have mentioned all that I have seen, but I hope to send more notes in the coming months. Yours sincerely, Clive Stewart."

Clive adds a postscri which is as interesting as the let 10 which it is appended: “I am oing to tell of the bird I mentlone in my last letter and perhaps you may be able to run it down for rne. It was like a Grosbeak in its stout bill, and was the size of a Crackle. perhaps a little 1 er. The color was as well as I co d tell, a dark purplish or almost black bird. The reason I called it a grosbeak was because of its bill, and because I heard some- one talk of the “Purple Grnsbrak." I was in doubt at the time, as I could not find it in my "Birds cf Canada" (by P. A. Taverner). I am thirteen years old. and g0 to

Roads School where wehavo a Bird Club. We belong to the Audubon Society and everyone is interuted in birds. We also have a chart on which we put the names and the dates when we saw the Bp _birds. I shall be glad if you can ind-tho name of the bird mentioned above. C. S."

I am sorry to disappoint my young friend as to the supposed “Grosbealfl but the color, size, and

with at the adult , which has a metallic purp- iah iridescencc in certain lights;

l

but than the Sterling's beak is sharp and dagger-like. There is a Blue Grosbeak, the male being of a deep indigo color; but is is con- fined to the United States, and winters to the South. However. I shall put the question to Mr. Roble W. Tufts. Chief Federal Officer for lvfigratory Birds when next I sec

m.

' The APOUC Owl: 1a that the Snowy Owl, (376)( or the Arctic Horned Owl (875.b). a variety of the Great Horned Owl?

It is in every way commendable that the scholars at the Cross oads School have organized a bird-study club. A naturalist once wrote: “A love and a knowledge oi Nature can mean inanylife a hap- piness cmnparable with that which religion brings. If you want in find divinity in nature, you will pe it there. Or if it is enough for you just to find out something you did not know before, there will be no end to your fun."

Even a little knoweldge (he says) puts tremendous new interat intc every familiar scene. We behold na- trn-e as something more than a beautiful picture. It. becomes — pied with friends whom we cal by name. And in this newly revealed world we may walk. ha py in the mastery that is ours at e price of just a little curiosity and effort- So persevere. young ornithologists Cross R0 ; you hobby will bring you a cultural reward all your life long.

ALLOTMENT GARDENS

Gardens of this description have been running in other towns in Canada with excellent results. and I have often wondered why ther: was nothing of the sort in our cap- ital city. When (in the Old Coun- try) I moved from the village; -to the town I found that there were allotment gardens to be had, so I wnicd one. It may interest my readers in learn how the gardens were r11n. It appeared th ten ears before this, there had been a. meeting at which a deputation had been appointed to wait upon

X5 r9

the Corporation, as the Town Council was called. There object was to press tion to provide

c allotments. After some bargaining eed to fence in a

.~'f'he g: 1n as one man could cultiv- atc ,and the inner fence was to be ed by the tenant. Everybody

was satisfied to become a tenant on these terms. but dengéigedn:

-onc Wat's else. W

$33.1. when tho "Nun's Moor Al- tment Gardens" were inccrvflfli- ed. ‘There was wisdom in askini 101' a loale. because the around 1M in grass for rem (when! hundreds) and the tenants knew “M, gha first year's crop was likely - p, all, but would increase year ‘ipto

to em

the Flllmd I“ "’ ".9 Al... corporation ml!

'8' ii 5.‘

and mouse! hi3: m. wrwcisld M ‘is "l" o’ . "u?! "n"; from one of the

WATRFOWL RESTORATION - THE PLAIN FACTS

(An address by Ira Gabriel-son, Chief. Bureau of Blolvsl-tal Survey. U.S. Department oi Agriculture. at a meeting of the Maryland State Game and Fish Protective Associa- tio3r1 )in Balitmcre, December 14, 19 6.

It give me real pleasure to at- tend this meeting and tell the story of what we are trying m do in he Federal mi ra water- fowl program. I ony wis that it were possible lo tell every sports- menfs association in the United szates just what this Federal pro- gram is and what we are trying to accomplish I am sure that if his could be done, 75 per cent or more. of the sportsmen of the country would be solidly back of it. Cer- tainly, an immense increase in hearty cooperation has been the result in practically every group that has already come to know the facts n; I shall present them t0- nllglifl-‘n other words, the story of Gkr-Ytlv what we are trying to do and why we are doing .

It may be a little harder to con- vince you Marylanders of some of the facis as we see them because you live in one oi the great natural wild fowl concentration points of the country and will have some dunks to shoot as lcngsas there are any left at all on th part of the continent. The Susquehanna Flats and other points in Chesapeake Bay are amonfihghe fiinest natural food areas of Atlantic flyway. and the birds naturally concentrate with you. It is only to be e cted that those fortunate enough live in such favored areas will be the last to realize fully the seriousness of the decrease in our birds. Ac long as ““ birds remain in the Atlantic flyway to fill 1p these Susquehanna Flats on their south- ern movement in the fall and their northern flight. in sprinfl- Wu will have ducks in front of your eyes. and you will have to remind your- self continually that conditions elsewhere are far different.

Now among the important facts in the case is the simrple truth that except. for a very few species Maryland doeo not produce the migratory water-fowl that are hunted in the State. Yorfmpirrtails. redheads, oanrv . other species of that kind arc not grown in Maryland nor anywhere near here.‘ These birds are produced largely in the great mine slough: of north central Uni Canada, and no measures that we can take to improve breeding grounds in Maryland will help to supply izhwe birds. The only con-

tribution that you can makc to-

ward increasing and restoring some of the sepcles that are in mod serious condition is to hold down your take of them while the re- habilitigtion of their!" groun taking, pace n great nestling regions. It has been seriously proposed by a fe-w that. because duck-s are atill present in nulrn mim- tlOn here, a_ longer and more liberal hunting season might be allowed in this territory. while hea. re- strictions or an entirely o1 sea- son should be imposed in the North Central States, where the wafer- fowl decrease ls more a/pparent and the sportsmen aro fully alive to the seriousness of t-he reduction of birds on the breeding grounds. Frorm a national stnni-‘Pwlllii. l8 well as from any selfish vlc hi. this would be albout the mcst sighted move ‘possible. It would be exactly as in time of short- ge of wafer in Baltimore's mu-

the like. were stored. There was no trouble in getting manure in those days for 75 cents a load (three shillings) but a cheaper substitute (which required composting) was to be had in street sweeblngs con- sistlng of horse manure, leaves. etc: a sixoenny trip to the scavenser. and he dumped his cart at your garden gate. An old fellow, "Old Ned" was always on hand tc wheel- barrow the manure where W" wanted it.

When I became acquainted with the rest of the gardeners, I found them a curious cross-section of our cl population. Many of them were well to-do business men. and many had “retired" and took" this way of spending their leinre. One had been t0 the gold-fields and made his pile: he was known as “K1ondyke" and always wore a kind of cow-boy hat, and a s ank. There were a couple of "jobbn garden- ers” who attendcd to ot er folk's gardens during the day. and work- ed ‘heir own at night. My next neighbor was a worker n the City power station, and held very advanced political views; he would have been taken for a "Red" now- a-da s. He was quite a Eellllli. i001 he showed rne an oil paintlnilof the "Temptation" which he ad made; and he had given Satan the countenance of John D. eller, co led rom some American paper! d poor, all made rdens when they d, for th buzzed like a beeqhive. at

a ren. thronged the

‘the week-ends, when owsfiit tween the plots, all intent on buy-

niclpal reservoirs your city author- ities would open wide every faucet and fire plug in the city and at the same time restrict the water con- sumption ir1 the surrounding coun- :ry.£‘he result would be disaster or .

Havi been a duck hunter all fe. I understand how irk- some some of the restrictions are that we have felt it necesary to impose. and it should be under- rwod that they are an essential part. of a well-rcamded national restoration program,

While I am {hiking about regula- tlons it may, also be well ic esent

' our int of view very brie! y. The

regru tions were not designed to hurt any community or to intcr- fere with any person more than with any other. or to favor any one area over other similar areas. The rogulailions were designed solely for the pu o of holding down the legitima kill of birds each year to a point less than the total annual production. I1 this can be done for a few years, the flight of birds can be built back again. I will be frank to say that up to three years ago I thought further restrictions were useless. There seemed to be no hope for the migratory water-fowl. I had lived for 15 years in one of the great prodming of the Pacific Coast flyway. I had traveled ex- tensively in the uclng areas of the other flyways. and each year has seen fewer birds roburnlg t0 blkg advantflle 0f the n ing grounds that war-Q available. Not only that. but the area of nesting grounds was airriniining M tinuoualy before drainage. before natural ef- fects of droughts, and before the normal davelopmnt 01f agriculture which no one can stop. These taken

er with the steadily increas- ing annual kill w a greater and

B3986

doom of the misratory err-fowl. It appeared that we might just as well open the season wide and tell the ducks hunters to shoot the wild fowl for twelve months in the year. shoot them on the hating . and shoot them anywhere else ba- cauae th would go y. I‘! that co tion still prevailed, I thin]; I would still feel exactly the same way about it.

However. now we have great hopes that the conditions am changing rad/limb During the put thmc Federal Gov-

doing co ice work on a. scale big enough to give real hope for the future. You will all rocall that

early in Preside . Roosevelt's ad- ministration he appointed a com- it of three prom-

tee Ecntcitilens whomadcareporton the wildlife resources and

ed among other things that the only hope for the migratory water- fowl was a complete albout face on the part of the American public and a 1c ‘Redd-n

habitat. restoration and refuge program. ,.Whilc the program omtcmplatcddn this report has not by any means been completed, we have made vast strides in its directions and have adequate plans for its realization. Durl the last three years a to- tal 0fng20,000,000 has been able for the purchase of ref and the gvf lands i m tOPy wit l‘-- 1'8$Wl'n¢ mtg levels. providing better feed- 1mg grounds, fencing and posting refuges, and doing many other things necessary to make these areas valuable foa- water-fowl. The program is simple. The program is iologically sound, and whether or not it will succeed depends upon many factors, some of which are outside of the control of those who are handling the . The program is based on two mises: First, Iif we are to halve and geese in this country. the ‘binds mus-t have suitable hair itat in which to breed. feed. and rest: in other words, the areas of marsh land must ncreased rather than further decreased. areas of marsh land must be in favorable localities for the birds. The second premise equally important: We must have birds to breed in i-hese marshes. if their establishment and rehabili- tation is to have any considerable effect on the nu of the birds. As you all know the migratory water-fowl follow four main fly- walys in traveling between their breeding grounds and their winter- ing grounds. from the north to the south and bark again. and we have this knowledge in establishing the refuge program. Wq have thus outlined it on a broad c. Prom our surveys and studies. we know there are ap- ‘qaroruirmrartely seven and one-lhalf million acres of marsh land, strategically located alcng the fly- wav, which can be restored or im- Eoved for migratory water-fowl make framework of a mighty rcfuge system that would provide ‘eouate feed and resting grounds for the birds wherever they might happen to be in this country. In addition to this. we are endeavor- ing to restoro every available acne of marsh in the natural breeding grouram that can powblc b, re-