A young fellow up from town the
other day was tell in' "how grand was
nature ? the trees and grass and birds
and sunshine !" An' "how peaceful it all
is ? no hurry, no worry, nor strife."
Yes, the trees and birds and flowers
make a pretty picture ? but "no hurry,
no worry, nor strife!" Nowhere in na
ture is there the slightest bit of kind
ness, of consideration for the suffering
or weak. No landscape is so beautiful,
or day so balmy, but the cry of suffer
ing rends the air. ?
The fight to live and stay up on top
never stops. Most animals die by vio
lence. The snake darts out on the toad
and swallows him alive. The spider spins
his web to snare the unwary fly. The
hawk swoops down on the hen. Cer
tainly, the big trees crowd out and
smother the little weaker ones. Some arr
born in rocky ledges. It's a struggle for
existence. Others are at home on beau
tiful lawns where they're pruned and
trimmed and fertilized and sprayed and
get every care and attention ? and can't
you imagine the little yellow dandelion
casting envious eyes at an orchid ?
You never have had any kind of a
pet until you've tried a pet crow ? plain
ornery and destructive ? hut the most in
telligent and amusing of all feathered
life. And if there's anything in your
yard you don't want eaten ? raise a pet
lamb.
And speakin' of birds, I've been
areadin' a book about birds. There's a
whole lot of bnsolved mysteries about
'em. People used to think a buzzard
could locate a dead horse or a dead cow
by smell, but tests pretty well show
none of the birds has a very highly de
veloped sense of smell.
JEST A-WHITTLIN'
AN'A-THINKIN'
BY PETE GETTYS
And this business of bird migration
has 'em all stumped. Course they know
the winter weather and food supply has
got something to do with it, but there's
more than that back of it. Take Purple
Martins, they come here from South
America in March when it'* so cold and
bad there isn't a bug in the air, so cold
many of 'em actually freeze, when they
could still be in sunny Brazil.
Now they got an idea how they know
directions. Been experimenting with
homing pigeons, and find these birds
are all upset by rado broadcasting sta
tions, and think a pigeon's sense of di
rection bears upon the "electro-magnetic"
hypothesis, whatever that is. Pigeons
have been freed near broadcasting sta
tions when the station was on or off
the air. During broadcasting experienced
pigeons took as long as three minutes
to find directions as against a normal
20 seconds. Once 169 birds were let
loose. More than half lit or returned
after repeated failures to find directions.
This suggests that birds may be sensitive
to the earth's lines of magnetic force.
Anyhow, at milking time when the
cows come up we like to see the old bull
stick his nose down to the ground and
bellow just as deep and scarey-like, and
paw up the dust, and the calves bawl and
when the cows are in the stalls every
thing gets as still . . . and directly you
hear the milk playin' a tune in the
buckets, and the old spotted cat stands
around with her tail straight up and
rube her sides against the corner of the
barn, purring just as contented like . . .
and away over yonder a little owl
screeches . . .
"And the day is done! And slowly
from the scene the stooping sun upgath
ers his spent shafts and puts them back
in his golden quiver."
BETWEEN THE ROWS
?Y ROY H. PARK
We should do a lot this year ? {or we
have one more day in which to do it.
Incidentally, Leap Year also brings
us two F riday-the- 1 3*hs ? one in March
and another in November.
ELEGY? 1936
The curfew tolls the hull of parting
day,
A line of cart winds slowly o'er Ike
lea;
The pedestrian plods his aisent minded
way?
And leaves the world quite unexpect
edly.
? Rotary Newr
Walkers are often just as much to
blame for road accidents as drivers. They
hang to the road to maintain their
"rights," but being "right" is little sat
isfaction to a dead man.
"77 North Carolinians Draw in Ex
cess of $15,000 Salary Each," said a
headline the other day.
"But," commented North Carolina's
Ike London, "none of them is an editor,
a preacher, teacher, or fanner."
A friend of mine in Tennessee, wrote
inviting me to visit his state. Comment
ing on places of interest in Tennessee, he
said : "Why 1 could take you on a little
trip through the ancient capitals: Rome,
Athens, Sparta, Antioch, Alexandria,
Memphis, Carthage, Palmyra, and T roy
. . . or on a swing around modem Eu
rope by visiting Winchester, Manches
ter, Rugby, Bristol, Dover, Paris, Lo
retta, Cordova, Milan, Florence, Dres
den, Moscow, Frankfort, Hamburg,
Christiana, and back to Belfast."*
1 wrote him that perhaps 1 may come
later but that first I want to visit Ni
agara, Quebec, Japan, Ararat, Troy,
Bqmbay, St. Pauls, Minneapolis, Mil
waukee, Broadway, Toledo, Denver,
Reno, Cleveland, Dublin, Nazareth,
Hudson, Bahama, Genoa, and Congo,
all located in North Carolina.
Incidentally, I'll be glad to hear from
readers in Virginia, West Virginia,
Maryland, Kentucky, South Carolina,
Delaware and Florida about towns with
unusual names in their states.
Pointing out how little things may
often mean a lot, O. O. Mclntyre of
fered the following the other day to
show how a comma may change the
meaning of an entire sentence : "Woman,
without her, man would be a savage."
And : "Woman, without her man, would
be a savage."
Trout Season Around Corner
BY DICK WOOD
In most states, the season opens on
trout in April. Rubber boots or waders
will be in order in Southern states
where trout streams head in the moun
tains. Few trout streams in the South
can be fished from the banks with flies.
At this time of the year, streams may be
discolored too much for artificial lures,
and the natural fly season isn't until
May, so the only recourse may be bait
or worm fishing.
The ardent dry fly fisherman holds
up his hands in horror at worm fish
ing, but I don't blame the impatient ang
ler, who may be fish hungry, for ac
quiring a few trout by any legitimate
means during the open season. The meth
od is not exactly sportsmanlike, inasmuch
as a worm caught trout is invariably
hooked too deeply to release with any as
surance of its living.
Nevertheless, when the stream is roil
ed, as it often is during April, about the
only way to catch a trout ii via the gar
den hackle route. The trout are lying
in the pools, heads up stream, grabbing
such food as the current brings them.
The still fisherman spirals a worm
around a tandem hook tied on gut
weighted down with a few split shot,
and lets it drift down stream, near the
bottom. Trout are generally taken near
the head of pools, or by boulders or
sunken logs, in swift water. They are
seldom caught in placid pools, except late
in the.evening, or at night.
Nymph fishing is the next step above
worm fishing. Nymphs represent the lar
val stage of insects before they rise from
the bottom of the streams to shed their
skins and emerge as winged insects. The
helgramite is one of the best examples.
Nymph fishing is really indicated by
early Spring conditions. While the sport
of nymph fishing doesn't compare with
fishing flies, it is preferable to worms and
other messy bait.
The nymph of the Caddis, Stone and
May fly are known to all trout fisher
men. Every boy living near a trout
stream in the Smoky Mountains is fa
miliar with "stick bait," the Cadd^^
nymph. It is found in small eddies o^
trash along banks, encased in the peculiar
stick-like substance, and in lieu of arti
ficial lures, may be fished on the point
of a fly hook.
Other nymphs are the Olive* ? Dark,
Green, Orange ? Large Stone, March
Brown, Pink. Lady and Alder. Nymphs
shyould be fished with a long, dark col
ored leader. They are dropped into the
swirl at the head of a pool and permitted
to drift down with the current. No at
tempt should be made to fish them neat
the surface. Only one nymph should be '
fished on a leader. The line should be
kept taut to facilitate hooking.
Late in April, if the water is clear,
flies may be fished quite successfully.
Some of the best early patterns are
Mosquito, March Brown, Bhck gnat
and Royal coachman, fished wet
FRANK FARMER
Says ?
The biggest waste in farming is the
w?stc of time and energy in an unbal
anced fanning plan.
? ? ? ?
Sunshine must be mixed liberally with
the ration for growing chicks.
? ? ?
A fruitful way to spend a little spare
time is to prune and spray the fruit trees
of the home orchard.
? ? ?
It costs me less to buy absolutely
needed farm implements than to do with
out them.
? ? ?
Farmers who have supplies of home
grown feed are better off than those who
have a margin of money in the bank
from cash crops.
? ? ?
I don't mean to wait until mistakes
make it too late for this season to get
valuable information and suggestions
from my county agent.
By using better seed and more suit
able fertilizer on my crops this season I
expect to be more thankful next Nov. 36.
? ? ?
The hundred million pounds of dairy
products imported into the South yearly
is a good source of income ? to dairymen
in other states.
? ? ?
Investigate the most successful farm
er in any community and you will find
a soil-builder, not a soil-robber.
? ? ?
Beware of the lazy cow that does not
mind going into debt to her owner for
feed consumed. .
? ? ? ?
Rusting out is worse than wearing
out ? which is true of farmers' machines
and of farmers' minds.
? ? ?
The best investment 1 have made in
fertilizers is the cent I spent for a post
card asking my agricultural college for
fertilizer formulas.