DIG AND KEEP WELL

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3102, 5 June 1917, Page 8

DIG AND KEEP WELL

A HINT TO "MVKEY" PEOPLE. Ouo of (Jio wisest economies ki-day is to keep well. Keep well, and you can face- things as they (should bo faced —that is, with courage and coolness. Again, koep well, and you are of value ■ to tho nation, no matter your ago or your abilities. Don't keep well, and you aro n. nuisance, and wlia-fc is more, you arc delaying victory, although only indirectly, and perhaps ever so slightly. Tho seerols of good health are few; they aro wholesome, nourishing food, congenial employment, from six to eight hours of Bleep, cleanliness, and —aud this is of importance—oxerciso. Even what is called 'indiffereut" health is a thing to be strongly guarded , aga'inst. Indeed, from a. national point of view, it ■' is tho most regrettable form of illness. It is at tho root of lio end of domestic iinhappiJiess,, of all sorts of silly suspicious, and a multitude of crimo. Ono of the finest exercises, remarks an euergetic effhtributor of a London paper, is digging—turning over stiff soil, and, if necessary, tramping it dmm and turning it over again and again. I draw attention to the exercise now becauso it is one we can i\ll indulge in, from he who dwells in marble balls to tho inhabitants of the third-floor back of the city slum; because it is an excrciso as suitable for women as for men; and because it is such a practical exercise. Tt was a well-known fox-hunting peer who first recommended it to me. I knew he w,ns in the saddle almost every day during the huuting season, and so it occurred to mo to ask ..him what ho did, after so strenuous a winter, to keep fit during the summer months. "I dig," ho answered. "Sly gardeners tliink me' crazy, but"" that doesn't matter. I take no notice, die; away, and thus find happiness and health. I set up at seven o'clock— sometimes much earlier —and din for from one to two hours, but never less than an hour, and I put my heart aswell as my strength, into it. Then I have a breakfa.st of rump steak, coffee, and home-made brown bread, butter, and marmalade, and next to nothing else to eat before'dinner in the evening." Digging exercises the whole body; the back, the arms, the legs; and it lias tho further recommendation of beiiiE interesting, indeed, I may say, fascinating, and an exercise that does not unduly fatigue one. The professiona.l- - to whom digging is digging and nothing more, invariable digs with what he calls a prong—that is, a fouroronged fork—but he who digs for health and pleasure first, profit afterwards, digs with the correct article— a carefully chosen spade, and he looks after the tool as the keen cricketer looks after his favourite bat,.or better, as the keen sniper his rifle../ The han.dle is of ash, and so smooth that it slips easily through tho hand; the balance is perfect; tho blade or actual spado eharp and bright; so that it ents the soil and so that the earth, whether dry or wet, glides cleanly and easily from it. Look it over for rust, and you cannot discover the smallest speck anywhere. It is all so shiny that it might bo used ae a mirror. Digging at an end, the digger wipes the blade quite dry with cloths kept for the purpose; touches up tho edge with file

and whctstono, smears tho whole with vaseline, and lastly Langs tho spade up somewhere- indoors.—A Digger of tbo Soil.

A frozen produce industry which is newly getting established is that of frozen nun, fiOOjOOOlba. of which is for the first time, being sorvcd out as a, veftkly ration to tlio British troops in camp in Great Britain (writes a London correspondent). ■ This is an important outlet for tho big Canadian Inko anrl son- fisheries, which suffered b big cheek in domand at tho start of tho war, and tho industry,, once on its feet, may extend and become'a regular one after the war to consumers in different parts of Kurope. It is a striking fact that wheroas there is a freight charge of Id. per lb. on halibut and salmon between Prince Rupert, on the. Pacific coast, and Liverpool, it costs }d. or more per pound to take fieh from'(Jrimsby to London.