THE ALAMANCE GLEANER
VOL. LII.
CONTRASTS
li\MEXICn*"
Transportation In Mexico.
(Pr«p*r»d by th« National Olographic
foclety, Washington. D. C.l
PERHAPS nowhere else In the
world is there a country so full
of contrast as Mexico. With a
university established before
John Harvard, Ellha Yale, or William
ind Mary were born, the masses of its
people are Ignorant With a hospital
founded before Jamestown was even
dreamed of, it is backward in a med
ical way. With natural riches great
er than those of a thousand Mldases,
lti masses are as poor as the proverb
-11l church mouse.
Here you will see a Mexican half
breed, barefooted, wearing a dollar
pair of trousers, a fifty-cent shirt, and
* ten-dollar sombrero. There, at a
ilngle glance and within the length of
t single city block, you may see an
Indian cargador, a donkey, an ox-cart,
* carriage, a railroad train, a street
ctr, and an automobile—almost ev
ery type of locomotion since Adam.
You may tread the burning sands
of a tropical desert with the wet of
the perpetual snow of towering moun
tain* still upon your shoes. You may
take a single railway Journey of 30
hours la which the people you see at
the railroad station will be dressed In
four different weights of clothing.
Land of the Inordinately rich and -of
tie abjectly poor; land of, the aborig
inal Indian and of the Twentieth-cen
tury business man ; land of perpetual
•now and of unending summer—ev
erywhere you turn there is contrast,
Wgh lights and deep shadows.
Mexico has an area approximately
of that of the United
"Ntes. It has a coast line some 0,000
es long, although its greatest
length Is less than 2,000 miles, and its
Peatest breadth only 750 miles. Al
ough Its area is onl/ one-fourth that
w Brazil, its population is approxi
mately equal to that of the empire of
2 withem continent Some 14,000,-
*ouls live within its borders, of
worn more than two-thirds can nelth
* read nor write.
Of the total population, only about
Per cent are white, 48 per cent are
parentage, while 88 per cent
maintain their Indian blood un
fcfrupted.
Agricultural Resources.
The agricultural possibilities of
co despite its vast central des-
P aln, are great It has millions
[ of the finest grazing land,
bodies of land that will produce
crops of corn a year, large areas
oanana lands that can match those
"Guatemala and Oosta Rica, coffee
tor «, Produce coffee not only fit
h ®. "Ween'a table,* but used on
ill lands . and cocao lands—
to good railroads.
(C n . "catan, go to Collma, go to
pas, go to Vera Crux, and every-
M| « ° ntalde th® great desert you
'*UtlJ»i a 8011 teemln g with posal-
Anl portions even of the
uw « may Judge by what
ilkali ®. , e wlt h our own western
ns ' ma T yet be made to
tte m. W u hen ***• Irrigationist and
iwn . reeder bands.
Pan-American rall-
Cfcat . L tts m agniflcent forests and
on ent among them
krtQd Z ~ 018 e * tu * ■t" l wear
* T»hn Cort «"; over the Isthmus
where the tropical
iS« ~ 0181 of the Motagua
*7 hi Guatemala, which has
* rich^ oUncel by one of
* thmT t 016 world, and then on
1 aid,,, J he «*»«t Atlantic plain
* Mexico, suggests the lm
de veloped Resources of the
Wlu Z? ®Wdle and lower altitude
He onJ country the banana and
flourish. The excellent
•N «i»i ,Utle s °* Mexico give a
IN to porta at Vera Qrua
I teatli,, ' ships are con
'oadlng flor European and
I American ports. The organgeries of
eastern Mexico are nearer to the
| eastern part of the United States than
are those of southern California, and
crop failures among them are un
known. Wltkr the same methods of
cultivation that are pursued In Flor
ida and southern California, they
should be a source of vast wealth to
the country.
Although the value of the corn pro
duced in Mexico each year Is greater
than that of any other product, not
even excepting gold or silver, the
country still has to import a part,
of Its supply. The reason Is not far
to seek—it Is the nation-wide love for
the tortilla. There are vast areas
where It Is easy to produce two crops
of corn a year and where each crop
grows with an exuberance that would
delight the heart of any corn-club con
testant in the United States.
Cotton a Prehistoric Crop.
History does not recall the time
when cotton first was cultivated in
Mexico. The Spaniards found It
there. Indians clothed with cotton
garments were first seen by Columbus
along the coast of Tucatan at the very
dawn of the Sixteenth century. The
Toltecs wrote in their sacred books
that Quetzalcohuatl, god of the air,
grew cotton of aH colors In his garden
and taught them its many uses. In
the times of Cortes the Indians quilt
ed armor of cotton, which was proof
against arrows.
To this day cotton Is cultivated
with profit In many parts of the coun
try. In the Laguna region It is peren
nial and does not require to be plant
ed oftener than once in ten years.
Mexico probably' has a greater
range of remarkable vegetation than
any other country l!> the world. The
parrot fruit tree produces an odd
shaped fruit, bearing a close resem
blance to green parrakeeta. Evident
ly mindful of this striking resem
blance, when the parrakeet la fright
ened It makes a dash for the parrot
tree, where It assumes a position
which makes it look like the fruit
Itself.
Another remarkable tree is the "At
bol de Dlnamlte"—dynamite tree—
whose fruit, If kept in a warm place,
bursts with considerable force and a
loud report, scattering Its flat seeds
to a surprising distance.
Rleh In Minerals.
Humboldt once pronounced Mexico
"the treasure-house of the world."
It produces one-third of the world's
silver, a considerable percentage of
Its gold, one-ninth of Its lead, and
one-twentieth of Its copper. The
country's mineral production, exclu
sive of Iron, coal and petroleum,
amounted to $158,000,000 In 1910, but
the output dropped after the fall of
Dlax. With the exception of Cam
peche, Tabasco and Yucatan, every
state In the Mexican republic possesses
mines, of which there are 21,000, cov
ering 833,000 acres of mineral lands.
They gave employment at one time to
half a million men. Yet probably less
than one-fourth of the mineral possi
bilities of the republic have been ex
ploited. Prior to the outbreak of the
Madero revolution, upward of &000
mining claims were registered each
year. *
The famous Iron mountain at Do
mngo Is estimated to contain 6,000,-
000 tons of Iron ore, which Is worth
seven times the value of all the gold
and sliver mined In Mexico In two
centuries. It Is believed that this de
posit was formed by the same process
that made the Hudson river palisades,
near New York city.
The Santa Maria graphite mines
are the largest and most Important la
the western world. There are seven
beds of graphite deposits, varying .la
thickness from 9 to 10 feet. They
were formed from coal beds by th 4
changes brought about by flows 4
molten granlta.
% kit Sen i
i CABINET I
• *
«»
L«t the one who slgha for comfort
Feel a handclasp true;-
It will cheer the way, and surely
Can't Impoverish^you.
Lives are human, though so often
We disguise our pain.
Some are hungering tor your com
fort;
Give and give again.
WORTHWHILE GOOD THINGB
Here Is a good pudding and one that
to not extensively known.
Banana Pudding.
—Take a quarter's
worth of vanilla
wafers, put
|^r^> through a meat
'i grinder with a pint
or less of nuts.
Cook one pint of
sweet m|lk, two
tablespoonfuls of
butter, one cupful of sugar, and two
egg yolks. Make alternate layers of
the nuts, wafers and ( cream filling,
adding six bananas and a can of
crushed pineapple. Serve with thick
whipped cream.
Date Pudding^—Mix one pound of
walnuts (measured ln'shell), one-half
pound of dates stoned and chopped,
one and one-half cupfujs of sugar, one
cupful of crushed and rolled bread
crumbs, two teaspoonfols of baking
powder and six eggs, yolks and whites
beaten separately. Add the dry In
gredients, then the yolka and fold In
the stiffly beaten whites. Bake In a
sheet and serve with whipped cream
spread over the top.
Asparagus With Cheese.—Take one
can of asparagus, six hard cooked
eggs, one-fourth cupful'each of butter
and of flour, one cupful of milk and
one-half pound of cream cheese. Make
a white sauce of butter, flour and
milk. Place a layer of the asparagus
In a baking dish, cover with the
cheese and white sauce, then another
layer of asparagus and finish with the
white sauce and cover with buttered
crumbs. Bake about twenty minutes.
Season well to taste with salt, paprika
and pepper.
Pickled Peach Sherbet,—Prepare a
lemon sherbet, using one pint of wa
ter, one-half cupful of sugar,' one tea
spoonful of gelatin, one-fourth cupful
of mashed pickled peaches, and the
juice of a lemon. See that the gela
tin is well dissolved and the mixture
well blended; turn Into the freezer
and freeze. This is unusual and espe
cially delicious.
Seasonable Dishes.
A good salad which may be prepared
at almost any season of the year la:
« Banana and
Green Pepper Sal
nanas and slice,
tender celery, one
green pepper cut Into fine shreds, a
handful of blanched almonds shredded
and mayonnaise to moisten. Serve on
lettuce.
A nice luncheon dish when It la hard
to think of anything new la:
Golden Buck. —Prepare a plain
welsh rabbit as follows: Combine
three tablespoonfuls of flour, one
tablespoon ful of butter, one teaspoon
ful of salt, one-fourth teaspoonful of
paprika, an egg, and two cupftils of
cheese put through the food chopper.
Add two cupfuls of milk and cook
over the hot water, stirring frequently
until thick. Serve on large slices of
buttered toaat with a poached egg on
top of each.
Cherry Cake.—Bake a sponge cake
In a sheet pan and when cold spread
with the following mixture made from
either fresh or canned cherries: Pit
a quart of fresh cherries, add two cup
fuls of sugar and let stand a while,
then boll fifteen minutes. Drain the
Juice and when cool add a cupful of
cherry Juice and a cupful of water and
boll, pour over two tablespoonfula of
gelatin dissolved In one-fourth of a
cupful of cold cherry Juice. Stir In
the pulp and when thick spread over
the cake. Top with whipped cream
sweetened and flavored with almond.
Green Com Pudding.—Take twelve
good-sized ears of corn, slice off half
the kernels with a sharp knife and with
blunt edge scrape out the milky germs
that remain, leaving the husks on the
cob. Add a tablespoon ful of butter,
salt and pepper and three-fourths of a
cupful of milk. Bake with dots of
butter over the top. Bake forty-fire
minutes.
Cucumber Sauce for Fish.—Orate
two small cucumbers and cook In two
tablespoonfuls of butter closely cov
ered ; stir frequently; when well
cooked add a half pint of rich white
sauce, season with lemon Juice; salt
and pepper, adding a hit of spinach
Juice for coloring.
GRAHAM, N, C., THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER S3, 1926.
Tidy Profit in
Poultry Raising
Best Records in Illinois
Show Average Gain of
$2.45 on Each Hen.
Chickens may be a side line on some
farms, but 234 Illinois farmers' who
co-operated last year with the exten
sion service of the college of agricul
ture, University of Illinois, In keeping
records on their flocks realized total
profits of .$43,778.01 from their poultry
raising, according to a summary of
their records prepared by John Van
dervort, poultry extension specialist.
Receipts and Expenses.
The total labor income which the
farmers realized from their poultry
amounted to $08,588.54. Cafch receipts
from eggs alone amounted to $80,154.79,
while the sale of market poultry
brought in cash receipts totalling $42,-
778.78. The total cash receipts from
all sources amounted to $148,508.97.
The bill for chicken feed on the 234
record farms amounted to $73,276.20.
There were 39,126 chickens kept on the
234 record farms, while 4,164,568 eggs
were laid. This was 347,047 dozen
eggs, 11,568 cases or a little more than
28 carloads of eggs of 400 cases
each.
The object of the flock record proj
ect, under which the records were
kept, Is to point out success-promoting
practices in farm poultry raising. In
this connection the summary of the
records brings out some striking con
trasts between the best one-third of
the records and the poorest one-third.
In the case of egg production per hen,
for instance, the average for that
third of the records which were best
was 118 eggs a hen, while the average
for the poorest one-third was 100 eggs
a hen, or one and one-half dozens a
year less. With eggs at 30 cents a
dozen, the average income from the
hens In the poorest onerthlrd of the
records, therefore, would average 45
cents less a year than that from the
hens in the best one-third of the
records, Vandervort pointed out
Culled Flocks Best.
Farmers who turned in the best one
third of the records culled out 53
per cent of their hens while those who
turned In the poorest records culled
only 40 per cent. Only 11 per cent
of the hens died on the farms making
up the best one-third, while 14 per cent
died on the poorest one-third. Perhaps
the most striking difference between
the best one-third and the poorest one
third of the records was In point of
profits from each hen. Farms from
which the best records came realized
an average profit of $2.45 on each hen,
while that one-third of the farms
which had the poorest records realized
an average profit of six-tenths of
one cent on each hen. The best one
third showed meat receipts of $1.68 a
hen in contrast to 88 cents from the
poorest one-third, while the feed cost
per hen on the best farm records was
$2.01 as compared to $1.99 on the poor
est cne-thlrd. In other words, it. cost
the fanners who had the poorest rec
ords about the same for fe*d as it did
those who had the best records, Van
dervort said. Fanners who turned in
that one-third of the records which
were best realized an average of $1.41
return for each hour of their labor,
while those who turned In the poorest
records got only 25 cents for each hour
BOOKLET DESCRIBES BEST USES
FOR SALT FOR VARIOUS ANIMALS
With Adequate Supply Cat
tle Develop Better.
(Prvyarxl br tta. U»it«4 SIMM D«p«rtm««t'
of Asrievltar* )
Why and how salt should be used
for grazing animals Is told In a new
publication, "The Use of Balt in
Range Management," Just Issued by
the United States Department of Agri
culture.
The authors, W. R. Chapllne and
M. W. Talbot of the forest service
have brought together the results of
experimental work, careful observa
tions. and studies of existing prac
tices In the salting of live stock on
western ranges. v
"With an adeijuate quantity of
salt," they say, "grazing animals de
velop better than they would other
wise, are more contented, and are
more easily handled. Also, proper
quantity and distribution of salt on
the range go a long .way toward con
trolling the grazing of live stock and
obtaining satisfactory use and main
tenance of the forage."
. In addition to describing the . re
sults of actual experiments, the book
let gives many details regarding the
proper salt allowances, kinds and
grades of salt to use, kind and con
struction of salt containers, and the
they devoted to their poultry flock.
Close culling did its full share to
ward boosting the profits of the farm
ers who turned in the best one-third
of the records, Vandervort believes.
These best flocks paid a profit of $2.43
a hen, while the poorest flocks paid
less than one cent a hen. In the best
flocks, 53 per cent of the original
number of chickens were culled out
and disposed of during the year, while
in the poorest flocks only 40 per
cent of the birds were culled.
Fall Plowing Favored
In some cases fall plowing In the
orchard can be recommended. It
tends to favor washing, of coury,
and from that standpoint the advisa
bility of fall plowing should be con
sidered carefully. It la also claimed
by some that trees In fall-plowed or
chards are more likely to suffer winter
killing. There is some question as to
the real truth about this point, but If
the soli Is worked down a little with
the disk and harrow probably It will
not freeze any deeper than It would If
not" plowed.
Mistake of Hog Producers
A common mistake among producers
Is that of heavily feeding or slopping
their hogs Just before taking them to
market. This not only makes It mighty
uncomfortable for the hog to have to
exert himself after a heavy fill when
he Is accustomed to \ylng down in the
shade for a snooze after his meal. It Is
likely to make him sick, and also re
duces his already too-small lung
capacity. The full stomach naturally
pushes forward.
Feed for Young Calf
Until the calf is about one- month of
age it should be fed sparingly about
four to six pounds a day. The milk
can be fed morning and evening. Some
persons prefer feeding. young calves
three or four times a dsy, but this Is
not necessary unless the calf Is a
weakling. By the time the calf Is a
month old the milk can be Increased
gradually, so that by the time It Is
six weeks old It can be receiving ten
to fifteen pounds a day.
Turkey Is Dainty Eater
Turkeys are naturally dainty eat
ers. Not only as to quantity, but also
as to quality. The turkey's food must
be clean, or It sickens and dies. Clean
food and live meat is the lure free
range holds for turkeys. It la not
proved that they won't live and thrive
In confinement. But the flocks of tur
keys that have thrived, though fenced
In comparatively small quarters, have
been given free range conditions as
to fresh air, cleanliness and food.
Hogs Utilize By-Products
Hogs utilize the animal by-products
of the farm which would otherwise be
wasted, such as milk and dairy waste,
garbage, and the meat from animals
lost on the farm. Moreover, they con
sume profitably garden waste, the
non-marketable grains, and the feeds
made from the by-products of animal
slaughter. Hogs multiply more rap-
Idly than any other farm animal, and
may be prepared for market more
quickly than any other animal.
principles of adequate range salting
methods for csttle, horses, sheep ani
goats. The use of proper salting In
the control, distribution and range
management of cattle Is given spe
cial attention.
The circular, numbered 879-D, Is
now available free, as long as the
supply lasts, upon application to the
United States Department of Agri
culture, Wsshington, D C., or upon
application to any dlatrict office of the
forest service.
Following the exhaustion of the
free supply the pamphlet can be pur
chased from the superintendent of
public documents. Washington, D. C,
for 10 cents a copy.
• Kafir for Dairy Feed
A very slight advantage was found
In ground corn as compared with
ground kafir during tests conducted at
the Kansas Agricultural college. How
ever, the advantage In producing milk
and butterfat was very small. One was
practically as good as the other In
maintaining body weights. A basal ra
tion of alfalfa hay and sorgo silage
was used. In addition the cows re
ceived a grain ration consisting of
four parts of the grain to be compared,
two parts of wheat bran and one part
of linseed oil meaL
Light, Fresh Air, Shelter, Features
of Hog House Inexpensive to Build
CONCRETE FEEDING PLATFORM
VI
I liiiii!:. 31NI ® IDUAI J I XIPE 15 I
I ' }COU C *T' J BO f H y I
I 31-D*^-
FEED ALLEY .*
a N t3 N C3 N l3 N CJ 1
t ♦r£a g J~ J
SINI> JLDUA.FTA I . I
Floor PUn.
By WILLIAM A. RADFORD
Mr. William A Radford will answer
question* and give advice FREE OF
COST on all problama pertaining to the
subject of building work on tha farm,
for tha readera of this paper. On ac
count of hla wide experience aa editor,
author and manufacturer, ha la, with
out doubt the hlgheat authority on
the subject. Addresa all Inqulrlea to
William A. Radford. No. 1817 Prairie
avenue, Chicago, nL, and only Inclose
two-oent atamp for reply.
If bog raising is to be made profit
able, proper houalng la an extremely
Important factor and no one can af
ford to neglect it It la very often
neglected, however, and the owner
wonders why he does not seem to be
able to make a success snd profit
with his hogs. If be would Just real
ise the value of putting a little extra
money and effort Into providing the
right sort of houalng, hla troublea
would be over. Nor is a large amount
of effort and expenae required to pro
ride the essentials.
There are Just three pointa to be
taken care of In providing a good
bog house. Theee are, protection,
light and ventilation. The hog houae
must give complete protection agalnat
severe weather and most be dry even
In the wettest weather. In addition
It Is essential to provide for ample
light and ventilation without drafts
In order to have a healthy stock.
There are a number of types of hog
houses all of which are good and
which may be adapted to tha varying
condltiona in different parts of the
country. The house illuatrated Is one
of the most populsr, a saw-tdoth root
and it la simple in construction and
Inexpenaiva to build. Aa shown In
the plan It la a small bouse, with only
ten pens, but the slxe may be in
creased to provide any capacity de
sired oy merely extending the length
of the building.
The construction. Is entirely frame
and when properly built will protect
the occupants even In severe weather.
The floor Is of concrete and the pens
have plank flooring over the concrete
which assures warm, dry quarters at
all times To the rear is a concrete
feeding platform where the stock may
be fed In a clean sanitary manner,
and In front of sach pen there la a
concrete trough for the same purpose.
Doors at each end of this bouse
give ready acceas and should prove
suflldent oven though the houae la
built of a considerably larger slse.
If very large, so that the two doors
are Inaufflclent It would probably be
advisable to build two units.
As shown here both light and ven
tilation are secured through the win
dows The lower tier of windows Is
so placed In this type of house that
It directs the sunlight Into the pens
at one aide while the upper tier
throws the light Into the pens on the
far side. In thla wag, if the house la
properly placed In regard to the pointa
of the compass, there will always be
a mevtmnm amount of sunshine In
side.
For larger bouses a ventilating sys
tem other than the windows should
be provided to Insure the carrying
off of foul odors and a constant am
ple supply of fresh clean air.
When built for ten hogs, as shown,
tha over-all dlmenatona of this house
NO. 23.
are only 81 feet by 34 feet, with a
six-foot Ming platform. For a larft
number of pen* the kmc rtlmrnalnn
only need be Increased isd «Q1 be la
proportion to the n amber of addi
tional pens, eaeb pair of bdof peas
requiring about six feet.
Extra Closet at Back
Door Very Convenient
The necessity for ample doset n»c>
In the home can never be andeieall
meted. An extra doset near ths
back entrance la a great
aa is a broom doaet.
The one for wrapa la especially con
venient for the everyday wrapa of
children. It should be fitted with
hooka and a coat bar placed tow as
the children may hang op their ova
wrapa. A abelf may be provided a bora
for hats and other things and ooa
below may be arranged for avsrsbuea
and rubbers. Toys and outdoor play
things. such Sa skate* balls beta and
the Ilka may alao be kapt ka this
doaet t
The room or deantng doaet nead
not occupy much wall apaca. aa three
feet wide and eighteen tnchea deep Is
large enough. It shoeld be at least
six feet la height to altow long-han
dle brooms and mope to be bung with
perfect ease. This Might will also
allow for a shelf above on which may
be kept the cleaning preparations
The mops and brooms may be sus
pended from hooks fastened to the
under aide of the shelf, and the dust
pan. brushes and so forth, hung aa
hooka oa the back wall.
Tenant Has No Right to
Make Repairs on Flat
Vary often a tenant will assume to
make repairs without authority from
the owner or his agents and deduct
the cost from the rent This ha can
not do and maintain his action.
The courts hsve ruled that a lease
being an Instrument under seal, the
agreements snd Intuitions of the
parties become merged In the Instru
ment Itself, and any evidence as to
understanding and Intention to aid Its
construction cannot be used to vary
the terms of the leaser Itself.
Where the lease contalna a specific
agreement between the parties aa to
certain repairs to be made by the
lessor It would be binding upon tha
landlord, but under so other condi
tion. •
New Red Cedar Mixture
Keeps Closets Moth Free
Aromatic red cedar has been mixed
Into a patented composition with
plaster especially for clothes closets,
to repel moths and other insects. Tha
preparation may be applied over a
surface already plastered and needs
only mixing with dean water to make
It ready for use. No stain or paint
should be used over It as it will re
duce the strength of the cedar odor.
The plaster la said to produce a
smooth finish, which besides being aa
effective against moths as a cedar
chest !a practically proof against