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0 mn \ Of A Mouse By i M. J. COLLINS Stan Jackson owned thie service station beside the pine grove a few miles outside the town. It was a good-location and Stan made a fair living. He was a-happy-go- lucky sort and everyone liked him, but he had one great fault. He loved to talk. Once he got started i* was hard to head him: off. 'Mice were his pet subject at that moment, and he claimed if everyone started to catch them systematically, the country would be saved a million every year, This was Saturday and he'd been busy all day, and sc had the cash register. "What's going on now?" High- way Patrolman Clancy asked as he stepped in. Stan looke. up from the corner where he was bent over fixing somethiLg. "I'm trying to catch a mouse," he answered, "and having a time of it, too." "Trying to save -a million dollars, Tl] bet." Clancy laughed. * "Listen, Stan," Clancy turned serious. "There"ve been a lot of service stations robbed lately, Don't ledve too much cash around." "Oh, they'd never.bother with a place like this." on Clancy's warning. "Now if I could only catch that mouse." Clancy fled. : The next fc hours were busy ones for Stan. The farmers, in town for the evening, were his main customers, but now they were gone and he could close. Hardly had he settled down when there was a "snap." "Ah," he cried. "I've got you this time!" Jumping to his feet, he rushed back to the corner. He pushed the box aside, but the mouse was gone, and so was the cheese. Perplexed, Stan scratched his hea. This mouse had put it over him for almost a week. "I'll get you yet!" he muttered shaking a fist. The car grinding to a stop woke him up. Hardly before he was out of the chair, the door opened and a man stepped in. "Good evening," Stan said. The man looked hard 4nd grim. "Stand where you are!". The voice ' The man looked hard and grim. sent chills up and down Stan's spine. "Put up your hands." i An automatic's snout was pointed where Stan had alweys considered. his heart was. Right gow it was pounding in his mouth. His hands shot up with all possible speed. A flashy girl came in and stood beside the man, £2 "Wise guy," the man sneered. "Yeah, wise . vy," the girl said. Stan's eyes stole toward the cash register, There was almost $200 ir it. - If Clancy were only here. Stan's ears were straining for the sound of the motorcycle. . "Here," the1 an said curtly, "hold the gun on him." She took it while he emptied the register. ~ The sight of his vanishing money rade Stan sce red. "Don't try it, sap!" the woman said coldly, motioning him back. A pair of small, beady eyes stared out of a hole in the wall. The mouse started to run across the floor. The girl screameq and, dropping the gun scrambled tp on a chair. Cursing, the man turned. All the fury in Stan's fist crashed into" his face. He went crashing into the wall and slumped. In 'the excitement the sound of the motorcycle had gone unnoticed. Clancy stepped inside, sugveyed the scene and quietly asked. "What goes on?" . Stan: sighed' with relief. "You're juct in time." J "1 think so," Clancy said, dryly, taking the gun t of the shaking hand. "This might go off and dam- age someone . . . even you." After the two had been taken away, Stan served. Clancy Coffee in the rear. Clancy asked. "How did you get the drop on them?" "Well," Stan replied, "he handed the gun to the girl. Mi-gosh, wait!" he ¢ried, rushing out front. In a few seconds he was back. "IL »k at this," he ct' °, holding up the trap. The mouse was pinned by the tail, ; "Ah! Success!" Clancy chuckled, "The mouse proved my 'argu- ment," Stan beamed, country $200." . The End "It saved the. Ll Stan'si mind wasn't | \ Seeds: Wrapped Up For Easy Planting Carrots that require no thinning, corn that can be sown two weeks early without beirg harmed by cold weather, tomatoes that don't need transplanting: These are a few of the innovations in farming and back- yard gardening that have been made possible by a new way of preparing seeds. ve Under the new method, seeds are coated or "pelleted." Their coat- ing makes even microscopically small seeds big enough so they can 'be planted one at a time and spaced so there are no excess plants to thin out. Inert ingredients such as pow- dered feldspar or volcanic ash add bulk to: the tiny seeds. Chemicals included in fhe coating make plants grow faster, keep seeds alive dur- ing very dry or wet weather, act as a counter-agent against weed- killers and even-shoo crows away, Pelleted seeds aim to give ama- teur farmers a greater output with less back-breaking hoeing and dig- ging, They promise to trim costs for commercial growers. By paving the way for increased mechaniza- tion, they should boost farm ma- chinery sales. Chemical companies should reap returns from the de- mand for ceating ingredients. Small Seeds Made Big If you've ever grown carrots in your garden, you can appreciate the advantages of a process that makes small seeds big. The seeds are so tiny that you scatter them along the row, far too generously for best results. If, like many gardeners, you can't bear to thin out and des- troy many of the luxuriant young plants, you end up by getting car- rots about as big around asa tooth- pick. Using pea-sized pelleted sceds, you plant your carrots an inch or so apart. There's no thinning to do and you get big sturdy carrots, Commercial carrot growers. not . only save on seed but also don't have to pay for labor to do the thin- ning. Pelleting also helps when there isn't enough rain. Extreme dry- ness, for example, is a tough prob- dem in the semi-arid sections of the west. Range grasses, when planted from seed, often don't germinate if there's a run of dry weather after they're sown. Processed Seeds,. Inc, is now running tests on 'different mixtures for coatings to be used on "blue stem" and crested wheat grass, If these are successful, the Govern- ment will buy enough pelleted seed to sow 65,000 acres of burned-over range in Wyoming 'and Idaho this Fall. Transplanting Unnecessary Do you grow tomatoes in your garden? With pelleted seeds, you won't have to set out plants. The digging and water lugging that go with transplanting can happily be dispensed with. The coating makes it possible to sow tomatoes two or three weeks earlier than bare seed. As awresult, pelleted seed will pro- duce fruit at about the same time as trapspants do. Pelleting offers an opportunity to do a better job with chemical "weed killers. Many of these are just as deadly to flowers and vege- tables as to the weeds, if sprinkled on the ground, they'll kill both good and bad seeds. But a coating of activated carbon on the outside of a seed protects it from such chemical weed killers as 2-4-D. The chemical kills the weed seeds but has lost its potency by the time the coated seeds emerge through the grounds. Special chemical mixtures make the seeds distasteful to .crows and rodents, Woman's Last Word A husband and wife could not speak to each other except in the deaf and dumb language. night when the husband came home * rather late the wife let him have her raging anger, her fingers flying a mile a minute, Just as he raised his hands to answer her, she turned out the light. : variety, -appear to One ~ With The Movie and Radio Folks Being a radio comedian is. a ser- ious business. Most air - comics, either of the real or the alleged look on life rather grimly when not doing their stuff before a microphone. But there's one big exception to this rule--the" original and 'matchless. Jimmy Durante, who pulls even more jokes "off" than. he does when getting paid for doing so. * * * Asked recently what was his favourite of all the gags he has ever used, Mr. Big Nose thought for a while, then decided that he likes the Automat joke best. That's the one which goes, "I walks into this Automat and puts a lead nickel in the slot of the machine. And what do you think comes out? The Manager of the joint!" : * * Tk Not long ago Durante was a guest at a big penthouse party. The little son of the host took Jimmy by the hand and led him to a miniature fountain. "Look Jimmy Durante--that's a fountain!" he cried: Jimmy's -- classic --count- enance beamed with a mixture of pride and benevolence. "See dere," he said. "You can fool some of de growed-ups, but not the little gaff- ers. De kid tells me it's a fountain. He KNOWS I'm iggorant". * * * Out in Hollywood they are in the middle of an economy drive. Building new - theatres wherever there was a vacant lot--which seems to have been the custom for the past few years both here and .in «the United States--hasn't proved to be the cure for falling attendances. The flash and glitter of a bran-negw show shop will bring folks along--once--just to see what the place is like. But it's only-good-pictures--that fetches them back regularly in profitable quantities--and 'there just aren't enough good pictures to go, around. * * * * The rising cost of living undoubt- edly has something, to do with the CROSSTOWN By Roland Coe "1; 3 pin and oail'S of a circus clown myself--my mother says I'm always stumblin' over my big feet." large areas of vacant seats as well. As one observer put it, somewhat wistfully, "There used to be mill- ions of folks who said they'd sooner go to the movies than eat. But when it comes to the point where they have to make the choice--they find they'd really rather eat." * * * At all events, in practically every circle in Hollywood they're begin- ning to feel the economy pinch. No longer is money something that gushes forth at the turn of a tap. Take, for example, what is reported as happening not long ago at one of the big studios. Various producers were 'talking about new books they would like to purchase for possible filming. They were told, by the man higher up, to go and look at their own library. * * * So they went to look. There in their own library they found some- thing like four hundred stories that had been bought, and then set aside. Also that there were some twelve hundred films available for bringing up to date and re- making. Looks like dull days ahead for some of the authors who have been getting small fortunes for film rights to stories whooped into false prominence and seeming pop- ularity by the Book Clubs and similar devices ; * * * When it was announced that Bob Hope had realized that a comedian cannot hope to keep on doing the same radio act forever and ever, and that he was going to pull his show to pieces and remake it, he received plenty 'of praise for his courage: (Possibly "the fact that Mr. Hope's popularity rating took a terrific drop last season had something to do with the decision). Anyway. they said that Hope was getting rid of his old gag writers; and also, dis- pensing with the services of Vera Vague and Jerry Colonna--the im- plication that Miss V. and Mr. C. were chiefly responsible for the slowing-up of the show's ear-appeal, * * * As far as Hope's "work on the first two or three of the new shows was concerned, there was a real im- provement I thought--although he was never among the first three-- or even the first ten--in my personal preference list. But this season that terrific cockiness of his--that air of "Gee how lucky you folks are to he able to listen to me"--was missing, and Hope honestly seemed to be trying to please. ; * * * But even with that the new show doesn't seem to be going over in any too big a manner, and there are TTT even rumors travelling around to the effect that Vague and Colonna will before" Tong be back. Maybe comedians such as Jack Benny and Fred Allen--who stick to the same format year after year but who real- ly work. like mad to polish their shows--have the right idea after all. * * * And to wind up with just another Jimmy Durante story. Countless listeners have heard Schnozzola's sign off --"Good night, Mrs. Cala bash, good night wherever you are --" and wondered what it was all about. Well it seems that Mrs. Cala- bash really is the married name of a former schoolgirl sweetheart. "We used to play hookey together" is the way Jimmy puts it. And though he's honestly interested in knowing if she's still alive, in spite of count- "less letters received there's never been one from the actual Mrs. Cala- bash. 3.9 Seconds Saved: What's the Hurry? With the co-operation of the local police, a well-known racing car driver made two trips down a fif- teen-block course in the heart of the city of Colorado Springs. The first time he carefully obeyed, all the rules ,and completed the course in 9 minutes and 35.1 seconds. The second time he broke every law jin the hook . He drove at an ill- egal speed, cut comers, went through stop-lights, gave no signals, passed other cars on the wrong side, and even drove through a safety zone, When his hair-raising trip was over, it was found that he had made the run in 9 minutes and 31.2 sec- onds. He had saved exactly 3.9 sec- onds, We suspect that of most reckless drivers, at least' in hecavy-traffic areas. For all the corners they cut, and the dangers they bring-on themselves and others, they seldom save more than a min- ute or two at the most. And all too often they never get to their this is typical destination at all, but arrive instead at the police station, the hospital or the morgue. -- ; The Secret Two peddlers of children's dresses met on a New York street. "I don't understand how you manage to undersell me," said one candidly, "since I steal. the materials from which I make my dresses." "You're a fool," said his friend with an equal burst of honesty. "Why not do like me? I steal the finished articles!" When the papers or educational authorities talk about children who are under-nourished it's almost al- ways those living in cities and towns they "Children on farms get plenty to eat" is the gen: eral opinion . But do they? mean, * * Well, investigators over in Wis consin recently checked up on some 400 country school children who at- tended 39 schools scattered over 2 counties, (Incidentally, none = of these schools had a school Tunch program.) They found 'that these kids weren't getting sufficient milk, vegetables, citrus fruit or tomatoes; and the investigations weren't con- fined just to what they ate at school at noon either, They included home meals as well. So maybe we've been taking too much for granted in con- * cluding that farm children's nutri- tion is all that it should be. * * Cw Now here are a couple of useful tips for tractor owners, and if you knew all about them before, just - forget that I mentioned them. First, if your tractor battery isn't going to be used during the winter months, be sure it's' taken out and brought up to full charge. After that, check the battery each month while in storage and recharge if necessary. Then there's the matter of tractor fuel. If a tractor is to be idle for any length of time, the fuel should be drained from it. A full fuel tank on a stored tractor is always a real fire hazard. Besides that, evapora- tion of tractor fuel in an idle mach- ine may leave a gummy deposit on - the inside of the tank. * * * Just before freezing weather sets in it's a grand idea to give that vegetable garden of yours a good deep plowing. Such plowing is bad news for a great many soll-infest- ing insects, as well as for soilborne diseases that may have cut down your yield the past summer, A fall-plowed garden also dries much more easily in the spring, and planting can be started a weck or two earlier than. if the ground isn't turned till next year, * * * Deep litter in your hen house can take a lot of the hard work out of poultry keeping, yet some flock owners who have tried it failed to get the expected results. The chances are that they didn't use it THE FARM FRONT properly--and here are some hints " from-a poultry specialist which may possibly be helpful. * * * . Litter under eight inches of depth isn't deep at all. A bale or two of litter is not enough. The daily water consumption, most of which is thrown off, will amdunt to Le- tween six and ten gallons. To get quick exaporation of that much wat- er you need plénty of litter, so don't start with less than eight inches. * *- * Experiments proved that old litter, formerly tossed out, still had cap- acity for more moisture, So instead of throwing it away, add to it. As new litter is added and mixed with the old, this extra capacity increases. Just why old litter is better tham new isn't exactly known but it may be because of what is called bacter- ial action. This action is what caus- es litter to heat. Then the manure content starts slow fermentation which, in turn, causes more heat, driving off the moisture. . * « Don't use the wrong sqit of ma- terial for deep litter, Long oat straw is the poorest among materials commonly used--chopped oat straw being many times better, The chop- ped straw dries better because the hens toss it around and get air inte it, and it doesn't mat on top like long straw. Tests have also shown that lime added to litter helps pre- vent such matting. * * * Naturally, deep litter--or any oth- er sort--won't work to best advant- are in overcrowded houses, Pug too heavy a load on the litter and it can't be kept in really good con~ dition. Sloppy use of water at the fountains will also keep the system from working as it should. But if you use deep litter properly ft is claimed that you can cut dows your hen-house cleaning to once @ year. More than that you won't need 'a clothespln or gas mask to "shut out the smell of ammonia. Koala bears are nocturnal auk mals and spend the daytime dozing or sleeping. : . RU SUE Ri New Provincial Head and new Federal Leader--Former Ontari Minister of Agriculture, Thomas L Kennedy, who will succee | George Drew as head of the provincial government, is seen chatting with Mr. Drew, newly chosen federal leader of the Progressive Conservative party, 2 X ; By Harry Hoenigsen Pry \// SE rn, ee ns SN RX ay om WR, Nn ge CR Re NMSE ~~ PC a A Ea Tt iv 1 A ¥ ol