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About The Loup City northwestern. (Loup City, Neb.) 189?-1917 | View Entire Issue (Nov. 18, 1915)
INVESTIGATING THE WOODPECKER HE California woodpeck er is distributed throughout most oi the oak-covered mountain and foothill region of California, northern Lower California and 1 western Oregon. it lives generally wherever large oaks are abundant, and from these it gets much of its living. A peculiar habit has "attracted much attention among nonscientihc observers, that of drill ing holes in tree trunks or largo branches, in each of which is placed an acorn or other nut. Where thij bird is abundant all dead trunks or branches of any size, and many live ones, are punctured with these holes, frequently less than an inch apart. Where trees in the proper condition are not numerous enough it attacks buildings and drills holes in the cor nices of houses or spires of churches; also it bores into telephone and tele graph poles and fence posts. For the laboratory investigation of the food of the California woodpeck Yellow-Bellied Sapsucker. er, 84 stomachs were available. The food was found to consist of 29.59 per cent of animal matter, to 77.41 per cent of vegetable. Their principal item of food is acorns. This amounts to 53.30 per cent of the yearly diet and wras found in 58 stomachs. Where almonds are largely cultivated and this bird is abundant it exhibits a strong liking for this nut and stores it instead of acorns. In some cases it has been found necessary to shoot the birds whenever they entered the orchard in order to save the crop. The foregoing shows that the food of the California woodpecker is not of much economic* importance. It does not prey extensively upon the prod ucts of industry, except occasionally upon almonds, and its insect diet con tains practically no useful species. Its worst sin is its propensity to puncture the cornices and casings of buildings and telegraph and telephone poles in order to store its nuts for winter use. This is a serious injury and will justi fy the destruction of the bird if no other remedy can be devised. The red-bellied woodpecker ranges over the United States as far west as central Texas and eastern Colorado, and as far north as New York, Mich igan and southern Minnesota. It is rather more of a forest bird than some of the other woodpeckers, but it is fre quently seen in thinly timbered coun try. In Florida the bird has been ob served to eat oranges to an injurious extent. It attacks over-ripe fruit and picks holes in it and sometimes com pletely devours it. The fruit selected is that which is dead ripe, so it is not often that the damage from this source is serious. The bird also some times attacks the trunks of orange trees, as well as others, and does some harm. For investigation of the food of the red-bellied woodpecker 271 stomachs were available. The food was found California Woodp cker. to contain 30.94 per cent of animal matter to 69.06 of vegetable. The former consists of insects and spiders, with a few tree frogs and lizards! whrie the latter may be considered a~ TAKEN FROM EXCHANGES Spain devotes 3,500,000 acres to olives. Trieste is the center of the meer schaum pipe industry. American mills yearly consume 6,000,000 bales of cotton. There are 51,490 passenger cars on the railroads of this country. A deed to 978,056 acres of land was recently filed in Dalhart, Tex. Good-by is an abbreviation of an old English form of parting, “God be with you until we meet.” Villain once meant the serf who be longed to the farm and was bought, soW or exchanged with it A factory in Europe that uses ordi nary tar as a basis is turning out about 200 tons of artificial rubber a day. 'The River Bug is not one of the larg est as Russian rivers go, but it is much bigger than we can show, for this trib utary of the Dnieper runs to 340 miles, against the 250 miles of the Thames The Vistula is rather more than twice M long as the Bug. New Zealand breeds between 23,000. 000 and 24,000,000 sheep, of which about 25 per cent are annually ex ported. Dust is everywhere, but the worst kind of dust is that which is confined within the four walls of a room. The dust is always germ-laden, because it is infested with efTete matter thrown off by human bodies. The largest sponge ever found came from the Mediterranean. It was three feet across and ten feet in circumfer ence. Juniper from the Indian reservations of New Mexico and Arizona may prove an excellent source of materikl for lead pencils. Belgrade, the Serbian capital, has known many changes of masters, and more than once has fallen into the hands of Austria. An expedition of Norwegian scien tists is studying the native flora and fauna of almost unknown regions of northern and central Asia. made up of grain, fruit and mast. Among the animal food a few wood borers were found, and caterpillars averaged 2.88 per cent of the diet. Corn was the only grain found. Poison ivy seeds form a large part cf the diet and are eaten in every month from August to February inclusive. This bird shows a decided taste for fruit and may do injury, as it has in the Florida orange groves. The con tents of the stomachs, however, show that the wild fruits are preferred, and probably only when these have been replaced by cultivated varieties is any mischief done. Three-toed woodpeckers are found to be very beneficial. These are res idents of practically all parts of the United States. The great bulk of the food of these birds consists of the lar vae of wood-boring beetles or moths. These are eaten with great regularity throughout the year, but somewhat more in the colder months than in summer. The total of wood-boring larvae, including both caterpillars and beetles, found in the food of these birds, amounts to 77.13 per cent. Their vegetable food may be included in four items: Fruit, mast, cambium and rubbish. The foregoing show*, that these woodpeckers act as “conserva tors of the forest" in the strongest sense, as three-fourths of their food consists of the direct enemies of for est trees. It is unfortunate tnat in most places three-toed woodpeckers are not very numerous, and for this reason they should be protected -tnd encouraged in every way possible. Of the several species of wood peckers in the United States only three may be properly classed as sap suckers. These birds havo short, bushy tongues, not adapted to the capture of insects, while the other woodpeckers have tongues with barbed tips which can be extended to spear luckless borers or other insects whose burrows in the wood have been reached by their powerful beaks. Tha sapsuckers practically do not feed on wood borers or other forest ene mies. Their chief insect food is ants. About 15 per cent of their diet con sists of cambium and the inner bark of trees, and they drink a great dea! of sap. The parts of the tree injured by sapsuckers are those that carry the rich sap which nourishes the growing wood and bark. It is evident, there fore, that the birds' attack on trees may have serious results. When a small proportion of the bark and cambium are removed, the1 vitality of the tree may only be lowered, or branches here and there may be killed. When the injury is more ex tensive. as it often is. the tree may be completely girdled, and of course dies. Holes made by sapsuckers so clear through the bark and often in.o the wood. Sapsucker picking disfig ures ornamental trees, giving rise to pitch streams, gummy exeresences. and deformities of the trunks. Small fruit trees, especially apple, are often killed, and whole orchards have been destroyed by these birds. Sapsuckers are known to attack no fewer than 258 kinds of trees, shrubs, and vines in the United States, 63 of which are often seriously injured and 32 have been killed. Hickory trees are favorites of the sapsucker, and it is estimated that the annual loss on hickory alone from this cause is about $600,000. It has been found that sapsucker work un fits for use such important ornamental woods as mahogany, black walnut, Red-Bellied Woodpecker. wnr.j oak, yellow poplar, chestnut, cherry, sweet gum and hard maple; that it seriously blemishes woods prized for peculiar qualities, such is ash, basswood, cypress, red cedar, hol ly, buckeye, and dogwood, and that it sometimes destroys the value of wood even for heavy construction, as southern basswood, spruce and west ern hemlock. It is evident that sap suckers do not deserve protection. The yellow-bellied sapsucker is the only woodpecker having the front o| the head—from bill to crown—red id combination with a black patch on the breast. The red-breasted sap sucker Is the only woodpecker that has the whole head and throat red. Great care should be taken to dis tinguish sapsuckers from woodpeck ers. ELECTRIC LIGHT FOR FARM HOMES A Small Electric Plant Suitable for a Farm. More farmers should investigate the possibilities of having their own electric plants for furnishing light and power. According to L. T. Perrill of Kansas, farmers will shortly be as much interested in lighting plants as they are now in automobiles. This is demonstrated by the fact that at a re cent state farmers' institute in Kan sas more than 400 farmers inspected an electric plant and were much in terested in its operation. Mr. Perrill continues: “The com mon rural lighting outfit offered for sale includes a dynamo to generate the electricity, a gasoline engine to run the dynamo, a switchboard, and a storage battery to store electrical en ergy to be used by the lamps and small motors without running the en gine. A good, complete system can be purchased and installed for less than $500, not much more than one of the dangerous gas plants costs. This can be lowered if the farmer has a gasoline engine or wires his house himself. Electric lights will lower the insurance rate. “A one-horsepower engine, or an ad ditional horsepower to any engine, will run a dynamo large enough for a ten-ampere outfit. A ten-ampere out fit is satisfactory for the average farm. When the large power is to be supplied by the gasoline engine, the dynamo can be run at the same time, requiring a little more gasoline, but no more time. "The dynamo, switchboard and bat tery are shipped ready to set up. In most cases, a good electrician should be secured to install the dynamo and cells and do the wiring. "A ten-ampere battery will operate all the lights required for a seven or eight-room house, as well as lights for the outbuildings. In addition, a small vacuum cleaner, electric toaster, wringer, washing machine, sewing machine, fan or electric iron can be used. “The farmer, after determining the number and sizes of lights he desires in each room, must estimate the num ber of hours they will burn in the morning and evening. These figures can be obtained from the number of hours that artificial light is used now. "The average house with seven rooms, cellars and closets, should burn less than three hundred watts a week. The storage battery of a ten-ampere outfit will produce three hundred watts without recharging. It takes eight hours to charge the battery after it has ben discharged, completely. “The cost of wiring the house will vary between forty and one hundred dollars, depending upon the amount and grade of wiring and the fixtures used. A house can be wired cheaper when it is being built than at any other time. The cost of upkeep is slight." At the Soda Counter. One of the recent Inventions Is a mechanical tumbler washer which meets a long-felt want at the soda water fountain, where patrons have grown tired of seeing the Just-used tumbler swished around in a tank of dirty water under the counter, and then offered anew. The mechanical washer consists of a receptacle which contains a rose-jet for cleaning the inside of the tumbler, while the out side is cleaned by water issuing from perforations In the outer wall of the receptacle. Wisdom of Experience. “What man has done man can do,” remarked the party with the question habit. “Yes,” rejoined the benedict, with an open-faced sigh, “but it is never half as much as his wife expects him to do." • Impatient Conjecture. “Why do you call this train 'the lim ited?' ” “I suppose it refers to the number of seats available when travel Is heavy.” THE EUROPEAN WAR A YEAR AGOJHIS WEEK Nov. 15, 1914. Allies drove the Germans acrcss the Yser. Germans gained in the Argonne region, and prepared defensive lines from the Norrh sea to the Rhine. Germans withdrew from Kalisz and Weljun and were repulsed near Czenstochowo. Russians reached Angerburg. Turks occupied Kotur, Persia. British troops larded in Basra province. Indian troops occupied Turba, Arabia. Nov. 16, 1914. Fighting in West checked by snow and floods. Russians checked in East Prussia and driven back near Soldau and in Russian Poland. Cracow besieged. Russians defeated by Turks near Koprukeui. British took Turkish camp at Fao. Nov. 17. 1914. Allies eained ground on Yser be tween Armentieres and Arras. Germans resumed bombardment of Reims. Great battle in Poland between Vistula and Warthe rivers. Germans fell back on line be tween Gumbinnen and Angerburg. Austrians reached the Kolubara river and captured 8,000 Serbians. Turks checked Russians near Fao and occupied Duzkuey. German squadron bombarded Li bau. Russian Black sea fleet attacked Trebizond. All aliens expelled from Frank fort. Nov. 18, 1914. French took forest near Bix schoote. Germans mined and blew up part of Chauvoncourt. Germans won near Cirey and In the Argonne. Russian advance guard between the Vistula and Warthe driven back. Battle fought at Soldau. Russians advanced in East Prus sia. Serbians and Montenegrins won fight near Trebinje forts. Cardinal Mercier appealed to America to help Belgians. Nov. 19, 1914. French retook Tracy-le-Val but were repulsed in the Argonne. British bombarded Dixmude. Russians were driven back be hind the Bzura river, but advanced in East Prussia and Galicia. Russians defeated Kurds in Per sian Armenia. French cruiser Waldeck-Rous seau sank Austrian submarine. Names of Germans struck from rolls of Legion of Honor. Nov. 20, 1914. French abandoned Chauvoncourt. British gained at Bixschoote. French wrecked German earth works and supply train near Reims. Russians checked Von Hinden burg on Vistula-Warthe line and won success near Lodz. Russians took four towns in Ga licia and in East Prussia reached the Mazurian lakes. British house of commons voted additional army of 1,000,000 men. Nov. 21, 1914. French captured heights at Ornes and advanced in the Ar gonne. Russians took Przemysl trenches. Turkish cruiser Goeben badly damaged in Black sea. French artillery stopped German attacks in Woevre district. Heavy fighting in Poland and at Cracow. Serbians fell back before Austri ans. Allied aeroplanes bombarded Zeppelin sheds at Friedrichshafen. Draft Riots. The only notorious “draft riots” of the Civil war took place July 13, 14, 15 and 16, 1863, in New York city. It is estimated that more than a thousand men were killed, and property worth $1,500,000 was destroyed in the four days. The draft was resumed, how ever, on August 19, and was completed in ten days without resistance. There were slight disturbances in Boston on the night of July 15. in Portsmouth, N. H.. and in Holmes county, Ohio. In Philadelphia and Chicago prominent Unionists asked the president to post pone the draft, and it was avoided in Illinois until the next year. Baseball 4,000 Years Old. It is now believed that Egypt is the birthplace of the original ball game. How it was played history does not record Recent excavations made near Cairo have brought to light a number of small balls, some of leather and others of wood, dating back to at least 2000 B. C. These are the oldest balls of this sort known. Path to Woman’s Love. Of all the paths leading to a wom an’s love, pity’s the straightest— Beaumont and Fletcher. Marvelously Fine Scale. Millions of dollars’ worth of pre cious metals will be weighed on the Bne scales of the New Orleans mint There are two sets of scales now in use there, the larger of which weighs anything from one-thousandth of an ounce to 600 pounds. The second scale, with its agate bearings, wilJ weigh accurately a human hair. Optimistic Thbught That which is great is not always au.iume. but whatever is laudable >•- ereat. HELPED BJ BURGLAR Family’s Sense of Gratitude Fully Justified. Whim of Predatory Individual Brought Fortune to Members of Household Which He Had Visited With Intent to Rob. "A bouse in the country that I had got into by a convenient cellar win dow, and that I came out of by the front door,” said the retired burglar, "had proved to be very disappointing. "I had imagined from the nicely kept lawn and the general appearance of things outside that it must be the home of people of means; but in the whole of upstairs I had not found, of things that I could carry away, enough to pay me for my night's work. "Then, as I came down from the second story into the front hall I cast my light around there, to see if there was anything there worth while. There wasn’t, but on a little tray on a table in the hall I saw three letters addressed and stamped ready for mail ing, and I thought I would take these letters and mail them. "That was just a foolish whim; but then I did a downright foolish thing, something that I had never done be fore and that I never did again—I wrote a note and left it on the little tray from which I took the letters; “ ‘I have taken the letters. 1 am going right past the post office and I can mail them just as well as not. “ ‘JIMMY.’ “Well, I did mail those letters, and then I never thought of them again till about a year and a half afterward when I saw this advertisement in a newspaper: " "Jimmy: Thanks for mailing those letters. We want to communicate with you. White to us where you found us. "S. S. O." "Now that was something of a jolt, wasn’t it? Of course that foolish note that I left was a clue and now they were following me up, and what should I do about it? Should I com municate? “All I could do was to trust my hunch, and I trusted it. I wrote, giv ing a fictitious name, and giving my address as the post office. Of course it would have been the easiest thing in the world for them to have a man watching the office here for me when I called for the letter, but I liked the house and I thought I should like the people that lived in it, and I took a chance. "In two days I got the letter, and when I opened it there dropped out of it a thousand-dollar bill. Do you fully grasp that? A thousand-dollar bill; and this is what they wrote me: “ 'One of those letters that you mailed for us was to an uncle who lived in a town not a hundred miles from ours. I don’t know whether you noticed the address on the letter or not. A nice old man he was, not an eccentric nor a hermit, but just an old bach, wfco lived by himself and went his own wrays. He did not seek friends, and so far as we knew we were his only living relatives; but though he lived so near we had not seen him nor heard from him in " dozen years. “Then one day, the day before ] the night that you called, it struck us that we would write Uncle Wil liam ; and just out of a feeling of friendliness and good cheer we sat down that day and wrote him that let ter; the letter that you mailed. " 'And what difference did it make, I hear you saying, who mailed the letter? Well, I will tell you. " 'In the ordinary course of things that letter would not have been mailed by us until some of us went down I Recommend Peruna To I Do Not Think I Ever Felt Much Better 'Mrs. William H. Hlnchllffe. No. 20 Myrtle St.. Beverly. Mass., writes: “I All Sufferers Of Catarrh — have taken four bottles of Peruna, and I can say that it has done me a great deal of good for catarrh of the head and throat. I recommend Peruna to all sufferers with catarrh. I do not think I ever felt much bet ter. I am really surprised at the work ■ can do, I do not think too much praise can be said for Peruna.” Our booklet, telling you how to keep well, free to all. Those who object to liquid medi cines can now procure Peruna Tab lets. HORSE SALE DISTEMPER You know what yeu sc!! o»* buy through tfie salts has about one chance in fifty to escape &.VLB STABLE DISTEMPER. “SPOHN’S” Is your true protection, your only safeguard, for as sure as you treat all your horses with it, you will soon be rid of the disease. Tt act3 as a. sure preventive no mat ter how they arc ‘•exposed.” 50 cents and $1 a bottle; $5 and JIO dozen bottles, at all good druggists, horse goods houses, or delivered by the manufacturers. SPOHN MEDICAL CO., Chemlits and Bacteriologist!, GOSHEN, IND, U S,» to the center in the afternoon; and mailed; then it would never have reached him; for on the afternoon of that very day our uncle moved from the old town in which he had lived so long, and left no address behing him. But mailed when it was, by you, it did reach him. He never an swered it himself; but a year later we received a letter from a lawyer i in the town to which he had moved 1 saying that our uncle had died in that town and had left us $200,000. “ ‘He had accumulated $205,000. He had made a will giving $200,000 of this to a hospital that had caught his fancy and $5,000 to us. his relatives, "if still living.” But later, clearly after re ceiving our letter, which he would never have got but for you, he had changed his will, giving $5,000 to the hospital and $200,000 to us; and now, after some six months of legal formali ties wo have got the money. “ ‘So you see your mailing that let ter made all the difference in the world' to us; it brought us a for tune. “ ‘We still live in the same house, but now we have more things than when you were here. In fact, we have some things now that usually we do not keep in the house, but in a box in the bank at the center; but if you will come over and see us again and will let us know when you are com ing, we will leave around the house enough to make this visit profitable; we feel that we are still much in debt to you.’ ‘‘But I never went back. Whatever they got out of it I felt as if, just for carrying the letter to the post office, a thousand dollars was all that was really coming to me.” Oh, Memory! “What beautiful thought comes to mind, boys, on this bright, crisp morn ing?” asked the teachej. “I know,” said Jack, shooting up hi3 hand. “The beautifullest thought that comes to me today is of that day when it was so scorching hot that they hart to close the school.” A Fit Companion. Lunatic (looking over asylum wall) —What are you so pleased about? Crank—I’ve thought a' a way to end the war. Lunatic—Oh, what's the idea? Crank—Sue for peace. Lunatic — Come inside. — Passing Show. A girl, after she is engaged, can see hut one man. But, thank goodness, a man’s eyesight is good as long as he lives. And sometimes love’s young dream dies of old age. Talk is cheap when one uses his neighbor’s telephone. The Army of Constipation Is Crowing Smaller Every Day. CARTER’S LITTLE LIVER PILLS are ^A responsible— they not only give relief a — they perma- ^k nentlycure Coa-^p •tipatioa. Mil-^ftjgg lions use them for Biliousness, “ c--■* Indigestion, Side Headache, Sallow Skin. SMALL PILL, SMALL DOSE, SMALL PRICE. Genuine must bear Signature QlTrftlTO WRtsoBEoColemnitWui> * £ F f® I ington, D.C. Hook.-* free, llicrv * K ■ rail ■ Vest references. Best reeuttas W. N. U., OMAHA, NO. 46-1915. Cautious. “Our romance began in a most ro mantic way. My wife saved me from drowning. She’s a magnificent swim mer. you know.” “But you never go out beyond your depth." “No, not any more. I don’t know if she would save me again.”—Louisville Courier-Journal. Suspicious. “The cook is leaving tomorrow, John?” “What’s the matter? Don’t we pay her enough?” “She says it's very strange that every time she has an afternoon off our automobile is in the repair shop. She thinks we do it on purpose.” Underwear for Father. “No. that ain't loud enough. I want the loudest underwear ever made!" “What for, no one ever sees it." “I want it so loud that I’ll be able to find it mornings when its got my wife's and all the children’s clothes piled on top of it.” More Important. “Has your son picked out a career for himself yet?” "Heavens, no! It takes all that boy's time picking out socks and neckties." It Takes Money. “Why don’t you open a bank ac count?” “I would if I could afford it.”—Bos ton Transcript. If it wasn't for the weather a great many loafers would have no excuse for remaining in the business. In the hands of a woman the powder rag is mightier than the sword. Many a good man who condemns a sinner secretly envies him. Curative Value In Food? “Recalling that 90% of disease results from errors in diet, then foods properly prescribed by the physi cian can justly be said to have curative value.” —Dr. Henry B. Hollen, in The Medical Standard. One of the errors in the diet of many people is the use of foods robbed of the vital mineral salts (phosphate of potash, etc.) which are absolutely necessary for proper balance of body, brain and nerves. The result is a long list of ills, including nervous prostration, kidney trouble, constipation, rickets in children, and so on. Tnenty years ago a whole wheat and barley food, containing all the nutriment of the grain, including the priceless mineral elements, was devised especially to correct errors in diet. That food is Grape-Nuts It fulfills its mission admirably. Another physician says: , “ Nearly half the year my breakfast consists of a dish of Grape-Nuts, one or two eggs, or fruit. I RECOM MEND IT TO MY PATIENTS CONSTANTLY, and invariably with good results.” This wholesome food not only builds sturdy health and strength, but fortifies the system against disease. Ready-to-eat, nourishing, economical, delicious— I “There’s a Reason” lor Grape-Nuts