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Canada ,; I Canadt beins one of the great cat- tl»-ralsliu[ ccnntrles of tba world, it la cnljr natural tHat th« leather IndaBtrr â- bould occupy a poslUoii at mueh im< portance In the Industrial life of tba countrr. and it is Intereatlng to note tliat the value of production in 1922 •hows a subatantial Increase over the figures tor the preceding twelve months. The value of production of the Unnerles in 1922 waa $24,291,884, compared with $22,905,528 in 1921. These totals are exclusive of the value of hides and skins tanned for cus- tomers but include the amounta re- ceived by the tanneries for custom work. An analysis of the production value •bows that, of the total, "sole" leather amounted to $9,175,420. The output of "upper" leather totalled $10,497,813: of harness leather, $1,845,131; of other leather, $1,702,164; of wool, hair and gluo stock, $210,834, and of other pro- ducts, $280,734. Capital invested in the industry in 1922 amounted to $32,818,775, which waa opportloned as follows: Nova Scotia and New Branswick, $286,000; Quebec, $4,554,426; OnUrlo. $27,852,- 404; and Manitoba, Alberta and Bri- tish Columbia, $125,885. There were employed, during the period under re- view, S,854 persons, to whom aalaries â- od wagea toUlling $4.^2^18 were paid. The number of establlsbmenta in 1922 was 116, which is a decrease com- pared with 1931 but an increase of 16 tanneries compared with 1920. On- tario and Quebec, with 39 and 65 tan- i neries respectively, may be said to be the centre of this industry in Canada. The livestock yards at Toronto and Montreal annually handle hundreds of thousands of livestock and provide an abundant source of material for plants In these provinces. The ra- malalng establishments are spread over the Dominion, Nova Scotia hav- ing 3; New Brunswick, 2; Manitoba, 3; Alberta, 3; and British Columbia. 2. The leather export situation during 1922 was very satisfactory. The value of leather, unmanufactured, exported from Canada during the calendar year 1922, was $5,091,384, an increase over the previous year of over a million dol- lars. The import situation also shows an improvement, the 1922 figures showing a decrease compared with the previous year. Imports in 1922 total- led $3,764,929. compared with $4,059,- 222 in 1921 and $8,467,528 in 1920. Fine leathers formed the major share of the Imiwrts, accounting for nearly I one-third of the total value. â€"AND THE WORST IS YET TO COME He â€" ^"You wouldn't love ma any more if r had a million dollars, would youT" She^"N-n-n-o â€" I wouldn't love yon any more." March Mornings. March mornings! Each a brimming cup That dancing Phoebos flUeth up â€" A drink to start the blood to race And prick the feet to trip apace. March mornings! When the darting sun Leape forth, a clear new oours« to run Like nettled steed that feels the spur And bounds with every pulse astir. March mornings! When the boisterous wind Retorts the whistling lad in klnd» And kicks the fuzzy cloudleta high Like footballs on a field of sky. March mornings 1 Let them com* apace To show old winter's run his raca^ And that the world la all awing And waiting for the call of spring! â€" Maurice Morris. Deliydration of Canadian Frml Who bravely dares must sometimes risk a fall The Useful Tin Roof. "I'm flggering on putting a tin roof on one bedroom of my house." an- nounced Gap Johasou of Rumpus Ridge at the' auction. "Root leak?" asked an acquaintance. "Nope, not specially. But with a tin roof I can hear it rain in the morning, and won't have to get up till I feel like It." Bad Engliah. "Tou are an educated man," said the Judge, "but this is' a disgraceful crime you have been found guilty of. Have you anything to say before sentence?" "Only this, your Honor," replied the pedant. "Whatever the sentence may be, for heaven's sake don't end It with a preposition." Modern Ways. Mr. Spendlxâ€" "Any instalimeinta due to-day?" Mra. Spendix â€" "No, dear, I think not" Mr. Spendix â€" "Any payments due on the house, th« i-adio. the furniture, the rugs, or the bcoks?" Mra. Spendix â€" "No." Mr. Spendixâ€" "Then I have ten dol- lars we don't need. What do you say we buy a new car?" o A Berlin newspaper man was re- cently fined for quoting eggs at 150 billion marks apiece after the gov- ernment had fixed the price at 130 billion marks. He explained that he had had to pay the price he had nam- ed, but the judge told him he waa "at- tempting to raise the price arti- ficially." In the past year a great step forward has been, taken in demonstrating to fruit growers how dehydration can save for u^e much cf the fi-uit tliat, at certain seasons, gluts the market or Is wasted, saya the N-^tural Resources Intelligence Service of the Depariment of the Interior. < Realizing the need for some immedi- ate action to be taken to assist the marketing of the increasing amount of fresh fruit, the Department of Ag- riculture appointed a committee from ' Its various branches which had to do with the fruit industry. It waa in- structed to gather information and re- port. The committee waa composed of E. S. Archibald, director of Experi- , mental Fiirms (chairman) ; Geo. B. | ,MacInto€h, fruit commissioner; C. 9. ! McGIllivray, chief canning inspector, | Health of Animals Branch (Secretary) Dr. P. T. Shutt, director chemical la- boratory division, and W. T. Macoun, Dominion horticulturist. As a result of its Interim report, the estimates of the Department of Agri- culture for 1923 contained an item of $10,500 "for experiments in dehydra- tion of fruits and vegetablea." During the year three experimental plants were erected, namely, a small mode! laboratory plant at the experlmenWl farm, Ottawa, operated under the di- rect supervision cf Dr. Shutt and Mr. Macoun, a seml-cummercial plant at' Penticton, B.C., and u u'Srtium sized commercial plant at Grlmsb.v. Ontario. The two latter were erected and oper- ated under the supervision of C. S. i McGillivray. i It is known that dehydration pro- ceases vary in officacy according to the climate in whick they are used, and the system adopted by the Canadian government is the result of a personal visit to California and Oregon, during which every assistance towards a com- plete survey of the conditions was will- ingly given, and especially by Profess- or A. W. Christie, of the Agricultural Experiment Station of the University of California. Hundreds of evaporating processes have been tried in the United States and elsewhere, but the mofit satisfac- tory are re-circulating processes, with the application of warm moisture to the air current, and the electric vac- uum. The excellent results claimed for the latter system, and extending to fish and meat, are at present, how- Passing Ages Leave Untouched Farmer of Bible Lands Always the first victim â€" and always the ultimate victor â€" that is the farmer of Bible lands. For more than 4,000 years conquer- oia and empires have been sweeping to and fro oVer these oldest of inhabit- ed parts of the earth ; and before every Invasion the farmer has been the ear- liest to suffer the destruction wrought by imperialism. Yet to-day it is only the farmer who pursues his way- in the unchanged fashion of ages ago; the very names and times of some of the once victorious empires are a matter of dispute among bookworms. Anew I have lately been traveling over this oldest part of the Old World, and mostly oft the beaten tracks. For Uluatratlon, I am Just back from a Journey throughout the length and broadth of Phoenicia, which lies along the eastern shore of the Mediterran- ean, from Gaza, whoae city gates Sam- foa atole, to Antloch, that once splen- did oity, where the disciples of Jesus were first called Christians. Also I IdtTO within recent months seen both the well-known and the little-known nflons of Greece. I have tniTersed squabble about the exact date of Tut- enhamun's reign, but there can be no question about the reign of the plow. Occasionally, in Anatolia, I noticed a mcdem steel plow In use; but, true to tradition, the farmer was guiding it with one hand. Past and Present. Contrast is perhaps the dominant note of these realms of greatest his- toric antiquity. Over against the ruins of Marathus, which lies in the great plain north of the present Tri- poli, In Syria, I found a perfect picture of the living present amidst the dead past â€" or psu-haps I should say of the living past amidst the dead present. What changes Marathus has seen! All the splendors of the East once vaunted themselves in her streets By William T. Ellis Land during the summer, there need be no haste. An Age-Old Threshing Scene. Threshing Is as wasteful as it Is primitive. On a bit of relatively hard earth the grain and straw are thrown down, and animaJs are hitched to a sled that has a hundred or more bits of flint embedded in its under side. Then, for weary hours on end, the sled is driven round and round over the grain, the feet of the animals â€" thay may be donkeys, horses, cows or oxen; I never have seen camels so employed, probably because of the cushion tires which they wear tor feet â€" aiding in the separation of grain except fighting, that the women do , The lordly camel loses isomewhat of not carry on; the favorite vocation of ; his air of scorn when a car approaches the men seems to be sitting in the ! â€" the Arabs say the camel Is so ' shade, talking or playing games. I haughty because he alone knows the Feminine labor la bound to be cheap hundreth name of Allah; every pious In a land where extra workers are ! secured by the simple process of mar- â-  rying them. So the time and strength ' of two women may be spared for the ' dreary drudgery of grinding up a few Moslem can recite the ninety-nine beautiful names of God, but the hun- dredth is the camel's secret â€" and the stolid little donkey, who has carried the civilization of half a dozen mil- handfuls of grain in a heavy stone mill lenniums on his back, grows panicky which they laboriously turn. The as the automobile draws near. meagre measure of the Eastern peas- ant's life is illustrated also by the pitiful smallness of the store of wheat that serves the family for food, sup- plemented by cheese and an occasion- Tho Sheep and Their Gentle Shepherd. The tails of the sheep are huge lumps of woolly fat, as broad as the sheep themselves and as long as they are wide. In the centre of this big ever, beyond the reach. of commercial economy. In all cases a regulating method of heat content is essential, and still more so the practical exp«rl> euca of operators who by touch and sight can tell to a nlcelty the line that separates correct dehydration from cooking. Two men owned 490 acres of fruit orchard in California; the one saved $100,000 by knowledge and personal attention, the other lost $80^ 000 by lack of care. The Penticton plant waa bought la California, and, with certain modlflca* tions to suit the climate, was set up and successfully operated last year. At the end of the season a fire des* troyed most of the Government dehy- drated fruit, but the plant was saved. The little fruit that waa saved will provide samples tor the British Em- pire Exhibition. There is little doubt that theEe will weather the critical ate tention of the hundreds of wholesale buyers who will be sure to examine such products with unbiased commer- cial acumen. I British Columbia growers have ea<- erly co-operated in the work. They know full well that distant markets are to be their salvation, and realize that, though their acreage had in- creased tenfold In the lai-,t few years, the present market is but little larger. The Ontario growers, having a large population within easy r.inge, are na- turally less anxious, but are by no means blind to the Importance of d^ hydration. Co-operative packing and marketing, as proved by the Callfcmla Fruit Growers Association, is essential to continual success. In British Colum- bia 96 per cent, of the fruit growers hold together and in Ontario progress on these lies is in evidence. It may be noted that there is no antagonism between canners and dehydrators, as the market for the one product does not interfere with the other. So far the Department of .iVgricul- ture has not had time to develop its special domestic dehydrator, nor to handle other fruit than apples, pears, peaahes and plums, but the loganber- ry, raspberry, cranberry, etc., will have their turn. If the housewife realizes the value of having spinach, and other fresh vegetables from her home garden for winter use, an excel- lent type of domestic dehydrator la now on the market, while the Depart' ment of Agriculture is likely to pro- duce a model at a price less than the patented article . In preparation for the growing In- dustry ot dehydrated fruit, and Indeed for the marketing at good prices of any fruit to be eaten fresh or canned, orchardlsts are strongly advised to plant the best varieties only, and even to face a temporary loss In making fire wood of the many inferior trees. It is well known that when first-class greengages enter the market they find few buyers, because the housewives have already fiUcd their shelves with a poor sort of yellowish plum, which is dumped on the market earlier and at such a low price that it brings no profit to the grower. « from husk. It is usually the children's and hot-blooded men, who are now but j ^o'^^ '" "de the threshing sded, and names in books such as Sennacherib <*°* ^^^ see whole families crowded and Alexander and Saint Paul, trod ; °^ * single sled. these streets in the fiesh. Proud Ro- O' course by this simple process of man youths rode in the gilded char^ I threshing apparently older than the lots that made these deep ruts in the rock; and even In their day the stone dwellings were a curiosity to be visit- ed and discussed. What sort of edged tools did these prehistoric people use the Balkans and Turkey and sojourned i for their elaborate and extensive rock to Egypt. I have also been through { cutting? How did they dress and live? Arabia and Mesopotamia into Bagdad j The only living thing that my com- ud Babylon, and have crisscrossed die Caucasus and wandered amidst the ruins of Western Persia. Only a fragment of these Journeys to Indicated by the simple statement that I have gone from the Garden of lUea down into the Tigris-Euphrates VeUey and to the island of Patmos, where Saint John saw the end of all dtat the reader may share the bumps practice of beating with a flail, which is In vogue farther south â€" much grain sinks into the ground and is otherwise lest When the work is done the straw is stacked or carried away on the backs of camels or donkeys â€" the orig- inal hay wagon. Processions of these straw-laden camels, usually led by a man on a donkey, are one of the com- monest sights of this season in the Holy Land. Chopped straw is the or- panlon and I found In Marathus, ex- cept the llzarda and the grasshoppers, was a huge snake. Now for the contrast. Around these beguiling ruins, and as heedlese of ' them as of the woves that lap the j shore of the neighboring Mediterran- ean, the Bedouin families are encamp- ' ed in reed hutsi, harvesting the grain. ^, ^ . . ! They are of the same type ae the ' '"^^''y fo' '^e winnowing. This is done Ihlttsa. I mention thia background, not ^^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ ^^ i by the old-fashioned method of tossing ' Marathus, for now, as then, In the : ^beat and chaff into the air with a al dish of mutton. The variety of an tail grows out a smaller tail of regula- ordinary Canadian's fare would seem . tion size and sometimes of a different I untold luxury to these people. i color. Black sheep are a common ' Though the monuments of old Mara- ' reality hereabouts, though the pi-evail- \ thus have had their boastful inscrip- iug color is white, even as that of the ' tions obliterated by the gnawing tooth ^ capering goats is black. of time, the simple contentment of the unsung farmer folk, who have persist ed throughout the passing of all em- Sheep in the East are shepherded, not herded. A Christian's thoughts grow tender as he watches the flocks pires and civilizations Is revealed by i ^^^ ^^^^^^ gentle-eyed shepherds; tor the smiling faces of both adults and children. A child-like happiness seems to mark these primitive peoples. They do not know that their lot is hard, for they have experienced no other. Their wants aro few and easily satisfied. Wealth is ordinarily rated in terms of flocks and herds and donkeys and camels. Now and then the insidious dinary fodder for stock in the Near! West has Invaded the Arab farmer's East; it is the nearest approach to suc- cess ot the famous experiment of feed- ing a horse on sawdust When the straw has been removed from the threshing floor the wheat is Ud the bugs that I have «ndured IniEast the farmers do not live on the three-prongad wooden pitchfork, so kto behalf, but only to accredit tie o^^^^ ^^^ ^ ^ ^^^ ^^^^^ ^ bg ob«.rva ion I '^^^^'t, *„'°t!^^^«'«'- j bar. est time these Arab helpe« come •emins agriculture in Bible land* I ^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^ ^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^ warming and fana folk have stir- ^ Ing tor ages, bringing their simple ttred and overcome the ages. They , tools with them. What one sees to- that the chaff blows away and the wheat falls to the ground. In the midst ot these busy harvest scenes, I saw "two women grinding at a mill," sitting in the doorway ot one of the reed shacks. Few scenes In home. I saw a family moving consist- ing of two camel's loads ot goods, In- cluding tents and tools; end on the top of one camel's burden proudly rode an American sewing machine of the hand-operated type, which is the only kind used in the East, whore peo- ple s.lt on the floor. As usual, the man of the family rode and the women walked behind. France has brought good roads and safe to Syria and has forbidden the general carrying of arms, so these Arab farmers work without wearing guns and pistols and knives and clubs. here before his eyes is the complete picture whith was so familiar to Jesus i that it found words in his Good Shep- herd parabless Again and again I have watched the procedure as we drove rapidly toward a flock of sheep that filled the highway, the shepherd, in head roll and long cornel's hair cloak and carrying a staff, walking In front of them. At the blowing ot our rau- cous horn does he leap frantically about, beating his creatures this way and that in heedless terror as do the donkey drivers? No, for he is a good shepherd, and the sheep know his voice and they follow him. So he walks quietly off the road to one side, sometimes not even looking back, and his sheep crowd closely after him. The strange sounds behind them merely drive the sheep to keep closer to their shepherd. Lo, in a minute the road is clear, the sheep aro safe, and the shep- herd greets the noisy car with a kindly smile of curious interest â- re etlU plowing and sowing and reap- ! day may be recorded as personal Ibc amid the ruins ot hundreds ot for- ; gllmpsee of pre-ChrUtian farming. Bible lands better illustrate the prlml- 1 as they used to do. But the new high- ....._ I gotten cities which In their day of The home life of these farmers. ''''® ®'=^* °' "^' ^^^ ^'*- '' '^^'^^ ; ^^ *^^^ ™°8 »I°°« ^» coast has Bride deemed themselves permanent ' which is spent either in the black i ^'^^ °^ *''• '**"* *'*® women are the | brought its own troubles, in the form aad all-powerful. It la curious how the goat's hair tents of the roving Be^xmin ' 'wo'"''ers. This Is no country for the ^ of demon-possessed automobiles which i it was in the Ume of David. So it was ' books seem to have mi'ssed this point or in mud villages, has been change- feminist. There is no kind of work, ! fly past scaring children and animals As In Abraham's Dsy. So it was in the time of Christ So of the triumph ot the farmer. It struck lessly primitive. The reed shack, aie first npon leaving the burled tem- ] which is at once bedroom, dining room. Vies ot Sakkara, in Egypt On the nursery and living roomâ€" there is no wall ot one of the tombe I saw a clear : use for a bathroom' â€" of a large family, picture, in oolor*, painted thousands often with mere than one wife, could •t years aco, of an Egyptian farmer easily be placed In the kitchen of the Viewing. In a little while, after lear- tag Sakkara. I saw a living farmer Site might have posed for this very pKrtrait so similar were the features. Dynasties had risen and fallen and bees forgotten, but the type of ordtn- uy man had persisted throughout the M«e. Not only that, but the llvlnc â- â- SSI. hitched to the plow ot the Ilr- Ml man, were no different from those lluit had trodden th« same field* In pmt centuries, as pictured on the Mill* of the tomb. Still more aaCon- k*lr.g. the plow lUelt was th* HUBM mrm ot sharpened wooden beam that Md been portrayed In oolors at least j sUlks their hands have missed. The iMC years before, sod that Is still the | cratn Is boand into smaU shsavee and fi«7,-<.'.li3f egrlcoltnral Implement j thste are stsoked on their sides. Be- Ihrcughnst Asia. Archaeo'Oflsli marl o^** t^W* <* ^* nduiaU la tke Holj average Canadian farmhouse. In the wheat field, which has been plowed with a crooked stick and Is not fertilized or cultivated at all, the grain Is sparse and low, and often only In little patches. Bible lands are tor the most part stony ground. The reaping Is done by band sickles, made by a neighbor ot »mithy skill. Four bits ot bamboo aro worn over the knncklee ot the lei't hand ot the reaper to facilitate grasping the stalks ot grain. Men, women and cMIdreo wMd the sickle; I have mere than once leea a Ruth following the reapers to glean the in the time of Abraham. So it 'niis the unmeasured age* that stretch back beyond the beginning ot written his- tory. The, farmer and his fields and flocks continue unchanged, preserving the a§oless traditions .lOd overcomlns the world of pomp and power. If thesu simple farm fclk on the plains of Ma- rathus. looking out on the Mediterran- ean tow.ard the lovely and storied lit- tle Lsland of Arvad. with its springs of fresh water rising up in the salt sea, were cursed with the sophisticated mind of the cynic, they might sneer at the multiform ruins of Phoenicia and Greece and Rome and Assyria and Per- sia and Egypt that surround them, and cry, "Behold the dead! 'Vet we live, nnchanged and undefeatable, a symbol of the eternal triumph of the plain peo- ple who toil with Nature and depend upon Nature alone ror sustenance. The A remarkable v!ew Is shown ot De^ Head Canyon^ ne^ Bankhead. IZrln.TjZl'^ TZZ\.:H Alberts. Can you pick out the rock tormstton from which tlM cut geU lU . „, ^^,^ ^,3^, ^^^ ^^^^ „„^ jj,^ ^^^^^ name? and proclaimed themselves ImsiortaL" "A Thing of Beauty." Below aro the opening lines ol "Endymlon," a poem written by John Keats when he was twenty-two. II was severely criticized in the "Qua:^ terly Review," and when the poet died at the age ot twenty-five Bryon wrote: Who klled John Keats? "I," says tliB 'Quarterly,' So savage and tariarly, " 'Twas one of my feats." As a matter of fact he died In Rome of consumption, telling his friend Sev- ern to place on his tombstone: "Here lies one whose name was writ in water." It has proved to be carved so deep and large on the rock of liters^ ture that it can nevor be erased. A thing ot beauty Is a Joy forever; Its loveliness increases: it will never Pass Into nothingness; but will keep A bower quet for us, and a sleep Full of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing. Therefore, on every morrow, are we wreathing A flowery band to bind us to the earth«' Spite of despondence, of the inhumaiU dearth Of noble natures; of the gloomy days. Of all the unhealthy and o'er-darkened, ways AlEde for our searching; yes, in spite of all. Some shape ot beauty moves away the pall BYom our dark sptrita. Such the sun,. the moon. Trees old and young, siprontlng s shady boon For simpile sheep; and such are dalTrv- dils With the green world they live In; and clear rllls That for themselves a cooling covert make 'Gainst the hot season: the mid-forest brake. Rich with a srrlnkling of fair mnck- rose blooms; And such too is the grandeur of the dooms We have imagined for the mighty dead; AH lovely tales that we have heard or read; An endless fountain ot inraiortal drln^ Pouring unto us from the heaves'! brink. Tn losing fortune, many a lucky eI4 has found himself. The blast that blows leudest is overblown. X