The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

WILL AID THE FARMERS e Hints for the Fruit-grower Agri . is the Work That Has Been Pone to Secure Lads to Ald Production. (Gon tributed by Ontario Department of 4 Agriculture, Toronto.) LAX fibre is absolutely neces- sary for the construction of aeroplane wings. Yet because g of Russia's defection, Great 'Britain has not now more fibre on 'hand than Is sufficient to keep the mills running one and a half days a | week. To further complicate matters the flax seed crop In Ireland was perilously near a failures last year, These vital facts were disclosed re- cently at a meeting in Toronto, of the Agricultural Section of the Or- 53 ganization of Resources Committe: uf Ontario, called to discuss the flax Situation. Evidence was also given re- | garding what Ontario already had done to relieve the shortage. In 1917 thirty-three flax taills were operated, 6,000 acres were planted and 2,600, 000 pounds of fibre and 45,000 bushels of seed were produced, Our . fiax business last year had a total value of $2,000,000. Moreover, tho seed produced will accomplish a vital mission abroad, as a large part of it has been shipped to Ireland to meet the great seed deficiency there. 8,000 Acres at Least This Year. i Already flax growers are planning | an 8,000-acre production, &i least, | for this year. Hach of the mills are | in the market for all the straw and | seed that can be secured and good | prices are assured (he grower, The arrangements made. in the past have, tor the most part, provided for | the leasing of flax land by the mills at a rental of from $10 to $16 an acre. The grower ploughed the land, | prepared toe seed bed and bauled the crop to the mill--except .: the crop was carried on the ral { Tne mill operator supplied the often did the & 1 ; g the crop, The flax was pulled and the workers were boused 1 fields in tents, Their transportation was paid by e mill company aad they received § n acre ior pull ing. It took a fic juller three days to finish an acre. e work ors prepared their own growers were in mo way jenced by lavir them on thelr ta Fiax a Highly Profitable Crop. While this system is still followed almost entirely, farmers may very i profitably grow fax, doi 1 the work and selling the cro the mills, Ap acre of produce some nine U and two tons of eLray. now for froin the price of straw pe upon gualiiy in cass labor condi tiong prevent the pulling of flax tk crop may be harvested with a tie seed sold at a remunerative price, aud the steaw at about $15 & ton Old sod land is preferred for flax and any soil which will produce a { good crop of oats will be suitable. Wireworms and white grubs, so des 1 struetive to other crops, will not af | tack flax. The seed should bo plant { ©. 4ed not later than May 10th and the | + "Rerop 1s harvested during the middie Hof July; thus the soll is left in excel- lent condition for winter wheat, A thorough discing, without ploughing, {8 sutiicient preparation for the wheat crop. 'Ihe fear that flax Is | particularly hard on the land is uu founded, as it does not take more fromm it than any ordinary fie id crop, | Fifteen Thousand Boys for Ontario | Favs, | fa 1916 aud 1517 the Department | of Education made regulations which i permitted students to leave school in | April, provided that their term's { work wus salisiactory, for the pur- { pose of engaging in fart work if ibey spent three months or more oo a farm, they were given toelr school standing witbout passing the custom- ary promotion examivations. When the students bad responded . to the Government's appeal and bad volunteered in thousands for the : work which they realized to be of such importance, there remained the problem of puiting each individual applicant 10r work in touch with a tariner who desired assistance, This was accomplished through the On tario Government Sysiew of Public ¥--ployment Bureau in cases where the students were unable to make their own arrangements, A minimum wage of $15 per month was set, but {he farmers soon realized the value of the students' labor, aud offered ag nigh as $35 per month, The average wage paid was $18, 1t is expected that 15,000 boys be- tween the ages of 14 and 19 will be oh available this spring tor farm work in the province. The minimum wage this vear wll be $15 per month, with board. ft is boped that every farmer who can make use of the services of a High School boy will make early application through the istrict Representative in order that he may {pot be disappointed. There are over "1150,000 farmers in Ouvtario, and only 15,000 boys to go round, so the wise farmer will be the ome who speaks quickly --Dr. W. 4. Riddell, Ontario bor Bureau. on command the atten Everyone ZINZISSINS | Lt IN NN 7' SRA Sek 7 4 AZNIISNIESIINIAN Zing SHO 2S \ 7 NEN Prosperou seat; while Mr. Gladstene, 5 A a spray in which directions are given for the spraying of all kinds of frait trees 3 the preparation of the various eeticides and fungicides.--Ontario leult lege Notes, Ontario. Li PEOPLE OF ONTARIO are actustotfied to ac- cept their food much the same as they breathe the air They read isolated items about food shortage, but such a thing as this® affecting their own dinner table never euters their mind, and it is the responsibility of The Observer to bring home to its readers a realization of the facts, as un- less something is done, in' another year, they will not be reading about the hanger in Belgium but the hunger in Tha following should be memorized by every reader of THE OBSERVER. Under the Presidency of Mr. J. W. Woods, a Confer- ence of all interested in food prodaction was held in Th- ronto on Monday; May 7, | PRIME MINISTER'S DAY OFF Lloyd George Has Been Known to Dig Qut a Badger Just as a Holl day Pastime. The pleturesque account which has been given of the prime minister's agrl- cultaral activities on the Sussex farm on the occasion of his recent vacation is probably suggestive only ef the ver- gatllity displayed by him in the matter of holliday making. Mr. Lloyd George has been ever known to dig out a badger, says Lon- don Tit-Bits. In the vestibule of his official residence may be seen a mag- tficent stuffed spec! which he helped to bring to the surface seme years ago on Lord Cowdray's estates In the same county. It is deubtful, iBdesd, whether, ¢x- cept In the matter of arboricultush Pp ts, the p» prime his predecessors. The pearest ap- proach, perhaps, is Mr. Balear, whe goes in for farming at his Scottish home at Whittingehame, where sem splendid cattle have been turned out. The late Lord Salisbury found his principal source of recreation away from the cares of office In his Jabora- tory at Hatfield house, where he fol- lowed the peculfar bent of his family fn scientific and electrical pursuits, Sir Henry Campbell-Bannerman, who was an omnivorous reader, was never 80 happy as When staying at his beloved Dover ; Mr. Asquith is credited with a passion for novel reading; Lord Rosebery, whose literary tastes are well known, spends most of bis time between Mentmore and his Scottish Some of the Objections to the 3 Code. A great many Canadla: know why ft is we hear complaint about the divorce laws of the Dominion. Here. are a few of the criticisms levelled at the as it now exists, The chief ob; unde nd Alberta also have applications must be made 44 iment (orough the Senate Divorce Committee. Opponents of any change in the system claim that divorge tourts; With less expense, would increase greatly the number of cases. Statis- tics would seem to bear out this con- tention, Outside of Prince Edward Island, which has an almost spotless record, # proportion to the popula- tion, there have been far more di- vorces granted by the divorce courts of Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and |" British Coltimbla than by the Doms inion Parliament. Prince Bdward Is- land has granted but one divorce from 1868 to the present time, This was in 1913. Sinca 1868 there have been granted "by the Nova Scotia divorce court, 221 divorces. New Brunswick has grant- ed 145 applications and British Co- lumbia no less than 256. In recent vears the crop of divorces th British Columbia has been growing. From 1909 to 1916 there were granted no less than 145. In addition In British 'Columbia there have been granted 13 judicial separations. Since Confeder- ation the Domlfilon Parliament has authorized 298 divorces. Of these, 191 were to Ontario parties, 53 from Quebec; 21, Manitoba; 18, Alberta; 9, Saskatchewan and 6 were granted before the formation of Saskatche: wan and Alberta as provinces: -- She Obeyed Orders. dreadfully economical, a mistress told her new Scandinavian kitchen girl never to leave in the refrigerator any- thing old et left over, but to keep it. clean and fresh by throwing awe i old things every morning. On the day following. happened to look eut of pd she bin (ESTAB Some time ago, before we all got 80 | LISHED 1857] (he yard. Cniing Huda she asked! =\hat is that and how did it get there?" "That's the old ice, ma'am, left ov i from yesterday," answered Hilda. | threw it awny lak you tol' me."--Bosé | ton Transcript. : PERSE Automatic Electro Plating. + A machine that automatically else: troplates 100,000 doorknobs. or othe | Inetal parts a day is described by the Scientific American. It consists of a series of tanks arfanged in an gval 50 feet long, over which passes an eud- less chain from which rods carry racks are suspended. The racks @re filled with the objects to be plated, aud these are dipped successively. into the tanks vontaining the solutions to 'be used. The average time required the complete process is one houry | Communal Kitchens. The latest proposal for the ell nation of waste in food and the sup- ply of meals at minimum cost in Eng" land, includes, what for a befter ten is called, communal feeding. The eof munal kifchen has been