lil acton free press wednesday july 12 1967 telephones came to acton in 1884 byuoyd acton first became acquaint ed with telephone service in ltm that era when young men in high it collars drove their buggies along mill street while the rest of the family listened to edisons mono graph or read aloud to each other from mark twains new book- ton sawyer that november a small gil- uland switchboard and crank- type blake telephone were in stalled in j e mcgarvins drug store on mill street and mr mcgarvin became actons first bell telephone company manager in a pocketen directory for january ims which is carefully preserved in the companys historical collect ion in montreal is a list of this towns first telephone sub scribers representing residents and business establishments prom inent here well over three quarters of a century ago they 1 were acton banking co corner mill and wiuow streets free press h p moore edi tor mill street mcgarvin j e druggist mill street nelson mcrae co gen eral store corner mill and willow streets storey w h son glove manufacturers bower ave invented by alexander grah am bell in 1874 the telephone was viewed with speculation and with skepticism in these early years to the general public the idea of transmitting human speech over a distance by el ectricity was astounding and contemporary newspapers pro claimed bells invention mere poppycock a toy whose popularity would eventually diminish however telephones at acton slowly gained in number dr in mcgarvin succeeded j e mcgarvin during 1885 and 110 additional business men had subscribed for service in cluded in the december 1885 listing were beardmore co beardmore w d brown james campbell house the grand trunk railway lowry dr w h moore mcgarvin moore james moore h p and the toronto lime co shortly after the turn of the century a larger switchboard was installed to handle the in creased number of subscrib ers and a t brown had jur isdiction over the exchange office the telephone office remain ed open from 8am to 8 p m during the week 2 to 4 pm nematode problem dept offers tests by charles warner nematodes are small soil in sects that are too small to be seen by the naked eye nema todes can however be seen quite easily with the use of a microscope the damage caus ed by nematodes is generally to the roots of plants nematodes attack many of our commercial crops partic ularly the fruit and vegetable crops indications of injury are decline of the crop and a general lack of thriftiness usually the plants either stop growing or slow down consid erably eventually the plants may wilt and die under sev ere infestation nematodes may also be responsible for transmitting certain diseases from one plant to another al so because of the injury to the roots certain soil diseases may be permitted to enter the roots through the injury the nematode diagnostic and advisory service provided jointly by the ontario and ca nada departments of agricul ture can help you to deter mine if you have a nematode problem you can take a soil sample in the troubled area and send this to the canada department of agriculture research station box 185 vineland station ont the cost for this service is s3 per sample application forms payment of the fee and fur ther information can be ob tained from your county ex tension branch office nematodes awe generally present in all of our local fruit and vegetable soils the concentration of nematodes is our prime concern small numbers of nematodes will not cause serious damage however larger numbers will be a problem indications in the field that you have a nematode prob lem are that you will see more or less circular areas within the crop that are not showing proper growth seldom will the whole field be affected ev enly secondly if you dig up the roots of some of these plants you will find small brown lesions on the roots oooo rami bv after suffering ntglaot as young child fobffwmghls mo thers death frudrlce froew german educator made cer tain that lonely children of fu ture generations would be spa red a similar fate in 1837 at vlankenbourg germany he started the first kindergarten this early educational experi ment combining creatlvelay with pleasant eunounoings psved the way for today peschool teaching method mmm uft n tht isms was hard lonely end dull for canadas early settlers who were faced with the challenge of carving a new way of life out of a rugged country after arriv ing from the british isles and europe here while two men split logs for fences another uses an ox to haul timber and the woman of the family hoes the garden this painting by william kurelek is one of 40 wtilch were commissioned for the bank of montreals official twovolume history canadas first bank clearing land building first tasks of canadians an iarly ttuphon nne crew in 1884 a line was erected between toronto and guelph through acton weston and georgetown making long distance telephone service a reality on sunday and an hour in the morning and afternoon on holidays a far cry from the 24hour service of today a connecting agreement was made in 1911 with the con solidated telephone company formerly known as the cale- don telephone company their 300 subscribers in the counties of peel wellington dufferin and simcoe were connected to the long distance network of thi bell telephone company at acton caledon guelph rockwood and or- angeville in 1919 this company was purchased by the township of caledon and erin and the name was changed to the caledon municipal telephone system this community was first given connection on the long distance network of the bell company in 1884 when a line was constructed from toronto to guelph through acton wes ton ibrampton and george town a significant milestone oc curred in 1918 in the history of the telephone at acton when the 100th telephone was installed it required 35 more years before the 1000th set was installed but from that time the number steadily in creased with a slight fall during the depression years with the formation of the trans canada telephone sys tem in 1932 involving seven major telephone companies across the dominion acton telephone users were able to talk across canada entirely on canadian lines in 1949 the acton exchange was converted to common bat tery operation and newer and more compact telephones were introduced eliminating the necessity of turning the crank to sigrial the operator the next great change in telephone service took place in 1961 when the dial system was inaugurated and the toll- free calling area extended to clearing land splitting logs erecting a oneroom cabin and planting and harvesting vege table crops was the essence of canadian rural life a half century before confederation this was the life which fac ed settlers arriving from the british isles and continental europe early in the 19th cen tury a settler landing by ship at halifax quebec or montreal was given a location ticket which described roughly the situation of his land pitch ing a tent on his property the new canadian would wait for the surveyor to arrive and stake out boundaries the next step was the clear- ing of a small plot and the construction of a cabin to house himself and his family during the first winter a painting depicting rural life in the canadian colonies during the 1820s is included in the bank of montreals offic ial history canadas first bank which was compiled and written by noted indust rial historian merrill denison the painting by william ku relek is one of 40 original works which leading canadian painters and illustrators were commissioned to prepare for reproduction in the two yol- ume history take in the georgetown and rockwood exchanges then in 1964 direct distance dialing service came into ef fect providing dialityourself long distance service to th ousands of north american exchanges today bell canadas acton exchange provides unsurpass ed service to more than 2000 local telephones check hay temperature to guard against fire by j h stanley a loti of hay i going into storage in halton this year in damp condition it would be wise to check it at least twice a week for the next month to ensure that it is not heating fire from spontaneous com bustion usually occurs during the first two months after stor age an easy va to check the temperature is to make a hay probe from a ten foot length of half inch electrical conduit or tubing you can then rivet a sharpened hardwood point to the bottom end of this tube and drill si holes of fhree- cighths inch diameter within the bottom six inches now lower a thermometer on a 12 foot cord to the bottom of un completed hay probe and vou are ready to take the temper ature of vour hav a piece of sponge rubber should be used at the bottom of the tube to act as a cushion and preent the thermometer from break ing push the probe well down into the nav and leaxe for 10 minutes pull out the thermom eter and note the temperature watch for the following temp erature sign posts if 150 deg f entering danger zone make temperature obser vations daih if 160 deg f danger inspect every four hours to see if temp erature is rising at 175 deg f fire pockets may be anticipated call the fire department pumper and et down hav at 185 deg f remove the hay the pumper should be available since flames will de velop when air comes in con tact with hay 210 deg f critical hav is almost sure to ignite workmen should not enter alone or without ropes tied to their waists since fire pockets may have developed and there is danger of the men falling mto them long planks may be placed across the top of the hay for workmen to stand on while making observations or remov ing the hay play it safe make a hay probe thermometer and know the condition of vour hay mows robert r hamilton optometrist office hours daily georgetown only carretal bldg 116 mountainview road for appointment 8773971 milton oxu theatre trfer 8783272 shew time un thruthurs 8 pm fri t sat 7mpii matinee 2 pm ocjeaooccooooooooooeooeeooocoo thursfrisat july 131415 kaleidoscope color warren beatty susannah york metro in miniature highway runnery cartoon saturday matinee 2 pm sunmontues july 161718 kiss the girls and make them die michael connors dorothy provine adult color study in terror adult color christopher ke wedthurshusat july 19202122 the professionals adult color burt lancaster lee aaarvin ounshoe magoo cartoon saturday marinae 2 pm boaoqoooobobopoooeab an early canadian settler spent his first winters clear ing more land a good rate for an industrious man was an acre a week but generally no more than 10 acres were clear ed in a single year the main problem wa dis posal of the green wood some was saved for building or split for fences but most of it was laboriously burned where possible the ashes were col lected for sale and export as a rule the tree stumps still were in the ground when the first crops were sown but they occupied a great deal of space and eventually had to be chopped burned or pulled out by ox and chain as soon as possible the set tler would begin work on a larger and more comfortable log cabin each log was notch ed and fitted without nails and the chinks were caulked with moss wood chips and clay a cabin normally would measure 18 by 20 feet compri sing a single room with a fire place at one end joint action by district set tlers accomplished much of the difficult work in those early days neighbors for miles around would hold a bee where they would contribute their efforts in return for liberal servings of food and drink meals which required several days of preparation at a time when life was hard lonely and perhaps dull such gatherings constituted the social activity and bees often included dances which continued until dawn dont make moves without proper reflection especially when driving keep your rear window clean and check your rearview mirrors frequently experts recommend that you glance at your mirror about every five seconds weekend jw july 13 to 16 thursday to sunday 2 bricks 50c m gals 375 ft gal 79c 5- large variety of flavors dairy bar open every night til 10 pm georgetown dairy limited 116gualphst phon 8772881 have you renewed your free press subscription keep informed by keeping your acton free press coming every week if your subscription is about to expire fill in the con venient coupon below and mail it today that way youjwont miss a single copy of this leading weekly chock full of reports on county and community activities news of the farm front special centennial and feature reports personal columns of com ment and reports from district communities youll want to keep posted too on the advertised bargains offered by local merch ants and the hundreds of items for sale each week in the classified advertising section dont delay keep the free press coming your way mail today the acton fftee pttss 59 willow st aclon ont please send me the free press for fitonlha 1 enclosed find gsj for mow order nw subscription 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