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ume carried out under the program In SHARE THIS COPY 1945, compared with 1938 (each figure

represents percentage gain) : Application of lime, 320; application of fertilizer, 502; establishment of sod

waterways, 5,400 (since 1940) ; construc- tion of livestock water and erosion-con- trol dams, 125; field strip-cropping, 750; green-manure arid cover-crop acreage, 64; and contour farming of intertilled crops, 126. In all cases the farmer contributes either in cash or labor to the cost of the practice. USDA assistance is regarded as the Nation's responsibility to help the

custodians of our land take care of it. The farmer committeemen are firm be- lievers that conservation farming leads But all that doesn't say it. He was to "better land better profits better Reuben Brigham more than a man. He was a force. Warm, — — health." human, friendly, dynamic, as earthy as HE WAS a great, tall, awkward-looking his pure farmer name, he was known all fellow, homely of face, radiant of per- over the Nation where many times he sonality, whose body hung loosely to- seemed to be the Department of Agri- gether and became more stooped as the culture personified. No place was too Research-marketing work fifties began to pass. He first dawned small, no individual too inconsequential VI my consciousness the year of Taft's SECRETARY Anderson announced De- for him. He passed none by. Indefati- inauguration, when he, as a student, cember 6 that the National Advisory gable, boundless in energy, incredible in marched in the parade with the Mary- Committee (see USDA December 9) had production, incomparable in amity land Agricultural College cadet corps. approved the designation of E. A. Meyer, farmer, outstanding career employee, Spectators began to cry at him: "Big Assistant Administrator of Production Nature's own nobleman- -earth of her _boy, how's the weather up there where and Marketing Administration, to de- earth, product of soil, his interest, dedi- you are? It sure is bad enough down velop plans and programs under the Re- cation to duty, and nervous energy never here." I last shook hands with him at search and Marketing Act of 1946. Des- once flagged—until 7:12 a. m., December Auburn, Ala., after the August Agricul- ignation of Mr. Meyer for this work pro- 6, when Reuben Brigham (aged nearly tural College Editors meeting, and prom- vides means for preliminary study of 59) took off for more boundless horizons ised faithfully to have lunch with him programs under the act, until the com- where his eager restless mind will find soon in Washington, a promise I waited mittee can further study the act and many unfinished tasks. too long to fulfill. until funds authorized under it are ap- This huge, somewhat gaunt, somewhat propriated by Congress. Lincolnesque fellow, who lumbered along The committee held its first meeting like an old-fashioned farm wagon, was a in Washington, December 4-6. It rec- .biological mass of electronically forti- The ACP ommended establishment of commodity, fied atoms. Born in Marlboro, Mass., in technical, and functional advisory com- 1887, he grew up all over the world, IN THE November 25, 1946, issue of mittees, with an over-all committee on wherever his father taught agriculture. USDA we reported work being done by utilization, to consist of chairmen of But, in 1908, he graduated from Mary- two Department agencies which deal with some commodity and functional com- land and spent the next 5 years farming conservation problems (under the title mittees with public and nutrition repre- in that State. In 1913 he turned up as Despoliation) . A third and highly im- sentatives. Details on Mr. Meyer's ap- ^secretary and general assistant to Presi- portant agency carrying on mass con- pointment and on proposals of the com- dent Harry J. Patterson, (who still sur- servation work is Production and Mar- mittee are in release 2632; write or phone vives) of Maryland University. Two keting Administration's Field Service 6114, Press Service. years later he became Maryland's exten- Branch, which administers the Agricul- Those interested in policy statements sion editor and also assumed charge of tural Conservation Program (ACP). by USDA officials dealing with this act 4-H Club boys' work. The Agricultural Conservation Pro- should procure copies of W. A. Minor's In 1917 he entered USDA to develop gram, started in 1936 under the AAA, is (Secretary's Office) talk in Detroit, No- visual and editorial materials for exten- now handled in Washington by the Field vember 18, Press Service release 2506, sion work. He himself developed into a Service Branch and in counties by and of talks made by Mr. Meyer, Novem- human institution. In time he took locally elected farmer committeemen. ber 18 in Washington, the next day in "charge of all visual instruction and in- ACP in 1945 gave assistance and en- New York, and 2 days later in Los An- formation work in Extension Service. couragement to nearly 3,500,000 farmers geles. Also see Grace E. M. Waite's ar- Agricultural Adjustment Administration and ranchers operating two-thirds of the ticle in September-October Marketing * borrowed him July 1, 1934, to head its Nation's cropland. The committees Activities. Regional Contact Section, and he re- choose locally needed practices from a Meyer, a native of Ohio who attended turned to Ext. as assistant director May list designed to improve fertility, reduce Goshen and also Wooster College in that 1, 1937. He founded Extension Service erosion, and conserve water. Progress State, served in the Army Quartermaster "Review in 1930. can be illustrated by a look at the vol- Corps during World War I, entered the 726034°—47 ;, food-processing business in 1920, and have served as the basis of the missions' worked with the same company until Informal about USDA reports. The extensive travel which was 1941. In October that year he became necessary was not a simple matter. Air- BELOW ARE trie titles of 10 mimeo- consultant in the Office of Production planes and trains graphed documents which can be sup- were used when possi- Management. He entered WPB in ble. In other cases, however, transporta- plied in limited quantities by the editors March 1942, was appointed chief of tion meant using of the Department of Agriculture house a human-powered river, WFA's Industry Operations Branch in boat, riding horseback, or using organ, USDA. To procure them, write any pos- September 1943, associate chief of Fruit sible means of getting there. But get to T. Swann Harding, Office of Infor- and Vegetable Branch in March 1944, there wherever "there" mation, Department of Agriculture, — happened to and its chief the following August. He be—was just what the mission members Washington 25, D. C, or if you are in a served as chief of this branch in PMA did. In that way they found out what great hurry phone Miss Glick, Ext. 5451, until April 1946, when he became assist- they wanted to know. Room 406-A. ant administrator of PMA. The missions, whose membership in- No. 1, Origin, Structure, and Functions cluded agricultural technicians repre- of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, senting land-grant colleges and the De- November 1, 1946; No. 2, Constituent partment, spent more than 4 months by Agencies of the U. S. Department of Agri- There is hope invitation in China and the Philippines, culture, November 1946; No. 3, Abridged collaborating with local officials in shap- Chronology of Agriculture's Part in the FEEL TIRED when you get up in the ing agricultural programs of mutuafcll War; No. 4, Condensed History of the morning? Backache? Suffer from bad benefit to the cooperating countries. U. S. Department of Agriculture, Febru- railroad accidents, a tendency to throw The heads of the China and Philippine - ary 1, 1946; No. 5, Current List of Top yourself under streetcars, or other ills? agricultural missions were, respectively, Officials of the Department of Agriculture "There is hope!" That has been said be- Dr. Claude B. Hutchison, vice president (Abridged) , (usually revised monthly) fore. But maybe you are not as old and and dean of agriculture of the University No. 6, Important Recent Achievements of ^ incapacitated as you think. Dr. Harry of California, and Dr. E. L. Call, dean of Department of Agriculture Scientists, Benjamin, of New York City, told its agriculture, Kansas State College.-^L January 1, 1947; No. 7, Outstanding Sci- Academy of Medicine awhile back that Quincy Ewing, FAR. entific Publications by USDA Research old age could be a blessing as well as a Workers Issued by the Department of curse. He said a system of medical Agriculture; No. 8, Abridged List of Fed- therapy could be developed which would eral Laws Applicable to Agriculture (In- add life to years, and he called it Pills for plants cluding Reference to Former Functions) gerontotherapy, if you must get technical July 1, 1946; No. 9, Biographies of Persons NOW THEY are giving a new kind of about it. He said also: in Charge of Federal Agricultural Work, pill to plants. Following the release of The seniority system in Government agen- 1836 to Date; No. 10, Our Department ammonium nitrate from Canadian and cies has often been criticized and may need revision and reexamination badly. But, even Scientists. United States munition plants in thel within this system, medicine is no longer Revisions of documents which obvi- spring of 1943 a problem developed. powerless to attempt an improvement of in- dividual shortcomings which are due to ad- ously have to be kept current are made Ammonium nitrate is a cheap source of vancing years. Gerontotherapy can add life whenever necessary. As we have no fa- nitrogen. Furthermore its value as a to years, while geriatric measures can add years to life by discovering and treating dis- cilities for maintaining a mailing list or fertilizing material has been proved in ease processes in time. recording advance orders, we shall have numerous field tests. Growers were en- Already a new science of medicine to ask yon please to communicate with us thusiastic over the release of this new (geriatrics) for the middle-aged and the as above whenever you think new issues supply. Their enthusiasm dampened*' aged is developing. It involves the use should be available. when they discovered that this am- of hormones, diet, physical management, monium nitrate likewise dampened. It^ and other especially designed measures as was too bibulous; it absorbed moisture a result of which persons may not neces- Back from overseas too readily. It caked. Often it was im- sarily be pensioned off in future when possible to use it in drills, and it was they reach a stipulated age. The ques- HOME AGAIN after thousands of miles entirely unsuitable for separate applica- tion will be, how old are they mentally of travel that was often rugged but never tion in the field. It was too desirable asi' and physically, not just chronologically. dull, the U. S. members of the China and a fertilizer, however, to be discarded it If productive service could be extended Philippine agricultural missions are more without a strong effort to make usable: { for experienced, skilled workers of ad- convinced than ever that the way to What to do? vancing age, it would be a great thing. learn about farm problems is to get the The War Production Board called on | The doctor advocates a pension system facts first hand. They'll tell you that's the Division of Soils, Fertilizers, and based on mental and physical realities, as true on the other side of the world as Irrigation, Bureau of Plant Industry, not on mere age attained. Many who in their own States. Soils, and Agricultural Engineering, foi^. have been retired should still be at work; They know whereof they speak, be- help. It did more. It provided part of many now at work, if they cannot be cause their talks with farming people in the funds needed for working out methr aided by special medical measures, remote areas, on-the-ground inspection ods to use the fertilizer. When you give should be retired regardless of age, says of farming operations, and conferences research men ample working funds, you he. If capacity is intact, retirement with local officials have helped them to have made an investment, not an ex- should wait. If you want details and formulate intelligently recommendations penditure. Within a year the workers," can master a little technical wording, see for the improvement of agriculture in cooperating with the United States and his article in Urologic and Cutaneous Re- China and the Philippines. Canadian producers, had methods for granular ni- view, Vol. XLVHI, No. 1, pp. 17-24, It wasn't easy to gather the facts which producing ammonium

USDA: January 6, 1947 — — trate—in pills, so to speak. In this form, But when farm wage. SUST~ feed costs Meanwnile Parliament nas approved and in good bags, it will not cake under are high, horses vanish 330m agriculture. the Government's new plan to establish ordinary conditions of transit or storage. As new quantities and types of farm forests in Britain on a very large scale. And it does not become undrillable in machinery become available, the trend The Forestry Fund is to be replenished ^fertilizer distributors because of moisture strengthens and spreads. The number with some £20,000,000 to cover plantings ^absorption. That means that these of colts raised is sharply reduced, and of some 365,000 acres during the next 5 workers have made ammonium nitrate the rate and decline in horse and mule years. At the moment England's small available in quantities large enough to numbers accelerated. So long, Dobbin; woodland area is rapidly dwindling under insure us against shortages. And that is nice to have known you, and you'll orna- heavy cutting, but within 50 years the an "E" accomplishment of top rank. ment art for many years to come, if Government's program envisages an ef- Technical Bulletin 912, Preparation of that's any consolation. fectively managed forest area of from 2 -^Ammonium Nitrate for Use as a Ferti- to 5 million acres, the cooperation of lizer, by William H. Ross, J. Richard private owners being sought and secured. Adams, J. Y. Yee, Colin W. Whittaker, Reasonable grants will be made to such "Pete" Hudgens leaves and Katharine S. Love, of the Division, owners also, insofar as they bind them- interesting story. John A. selves and their successors to comply reflects this THE Department lost one of its outstand- with good forest-management practice. Ferrall, PISAE. ing figures when Robert W. ("Pete") Hudgens left his post as Associate Ad- ministrator of the Farmers Home Ad- The vanishing horse ministration to become Director of Field Those perspiring cows Organization for the American Cancer IT LOOKS LIKE taps for Dobbin as a Society on January 1. WE HAD occasion previously (USDA De- work animal. The horse is doing a van- Hudgens pioneered in the field of rural cember 23) to remark that cows common ishing act. It seems to be headed for rehabilitation when in 1930, as State Red to this country are averse to perspiring. fche last roundup, though some say rid- Cross chairman for his native South Car- They work hard but do not sweat, hence 'fiig-horse numbers increase. The top olina, he began a program in which su- special precautions are necessary in pro- total number of horses and mules on pervised farm-operating loans—instead viding shelter for them. There are, how- iarms was attained during World War I, of grants—were provided to distressed ever, cows which do perspire; these are and was 26,700,000; the comparable fig- farm families. As one of the top officials from the Bos indicus family, common ure for January 1, 1940, was 14,911,000; of the Resettlement Administration, and to Africa and Asia. They actually con- (that for the beginning of 1945, a mere later the Farm Security Administration, stitute more than 60 percent of the 11,455,000. Outstanding reason for the Hudgens helped develop the supervised world's cattle, and include the sacred horse's decline is not what you think credit program being carried on by the cows of India as well as the kinds of equine hamburger—but replacement of Farmers Home Administration today. Africa. work animals by power-driven machin- Through the years Hudgens has con- But the cows common to Europe and ery, even as Commissioners of Patents tinued his great interest in people and America are of the B. taurus (aristo- were predicting when Federal farm work established a wide reputation for his cratic, nonsweating) family. From it was first tentatively undertaken. humanitarian views. Although the De- have sprung breeds like the Hereford, Of course the slaughter of horses has partment is sorry to lose him, it is good Devon, Aberdeen-Angus, and Shorthorns been large during the past 5 years, and to know that "Pete" Hudgens will con- for beef, and the famous Jersey, Guern- you no longer see roaming herds of tinue his work in the important field of sey, and Holstein milk producers. They Lbeautiful animals nobody owns, as the cancer control. have been highly bred for specific value (editor did on his first trip to Colorado to man, but they have mostly been de- in 1930. Meat has become scarce (as veloped in cold climates and, unlike their jif you didn't know), the price of horses B. indicus relatives, have no sweat glands. |was low, in inspected and 1945 slaughter Such breeds, however fine, do poorly in of the steeds attained a high of 77,887 Florida and other Southern States, head, 26,000 more than a year earlier, and forestry whether for beef or milk production. 3 times as many as in 1939. The slaugh- DAVID ECCLES, a member of the British Consequently experiments are well un- ter rate of 1946 almost doubled that of Parliament, has made an interesting and der way in several places to combine the 1945. novel suggestion for the financial re- good producing qualities of the non- Commodity Credit Corporation alone habilitation of British agriculture, which sweaters with the possession of sweat purchased over 33 million pounds of seems destined for bankruptcy once re- breeding canned and 5 million pounds of cured glands, by them with cows horse meat for the UNRRA program tail food prices have leveled off in the which can perspire. In Florida in Oc- completed in August. It also purchased United Kingdom. British farmers then tober it is common to see Brahmans hap- many live horses and sent them to Eu- cannot possibly meet production costs pily grazing in the blazing sun, their hides rope for agricultural work, another when they will be getting far lower prices. glistening with perspiration and keep- iJNRRA program. During 1946 requisi- Mr. Eccles suggests that, instead of sub- ing them cool, while the Devons lie in tions were issued for purchase of 90,000 sidies, the Government recapitalize Brit- the shade and pant. Experiments have mares for export. Private relief agen- ish agriculture by making it an interest- shown that, while the sweaters maintain cies also sent relatively small numbers. free loan of a billion pounds, with control normal temperatures in the hottest part Exports of mules in 1944 and 1945 ex- over expending the money and over of the day, the nonsweaters work up a eeded 4,500 a year and were the largest changes in the structure and methods of temperature. The Brahmans produce since 1930. the agricultural industry. economically, have hybrid vigor and bet-

JSDA: January 6, 1947 be recruited through regular examina- ing 50 years covered a total of over 800 Attention, old hen! Dr. T. C. Byerly, of the Bureau of Animal Industry, says: "It vice-consuls. In each of the tions for new strains and varieties of plants. At takes 25 pounds of feed to develop a pullet next few years about 10 or 15 new offi- one time or another he performed selec- to the laying stage. It takes about four-fifths as much feed to carry a hen through the 3 cers will be required as replacements; tion or hybridizing experiments on about months usually required to molt. In the thereafter only 4 or 5 a year will be 200 plant genera. As he aroused scien- old hen you get only a new coat of feathers, while the needed. Provision is made for agricul- in pullet you get 5 pounds of I tific suspicions and lacked proper re- poultry meat." Turn that over in your mind technicians to be recruited for tural search standing, he himself developed while ruminating on the nest. Pullets lay temporary periods in a Reserve Corps. more eggs than hens. A serving of chicken some antagonism towards formal scien- feathers is not half so palatable as a serving one- Training an officer to become a of white or it's tists. His friends wildly exaggerated his dark meat, so pullets in the man USDA abroad is a difficult job. The laying house and old hens in the kettle as accomplishments; his detractors reviled far as Dr. Byerly is concerned. ideal representative would be an authen- him intemperately and contemptuously. tic paragon, highly skilled in both tech- But read Howard to get the story. What Sanders did: Dr. George P. nical agriculture and economic analysis, Sanders, of the Bureau of Dairy Industry, has devised and with knowledge of at least one for- a test so delicate that it would indicate the eign language. A model college course, presence of as little as a pint of raw milk in a ton lot of pasteurized. It could do that followed by graduate work, would in- Brief but important even if applied to cheese made from the clude 60 credits in agriculture and 40 in milk. The test was already being used for milk and cream; cheese is new. It also works economics. The official revamping of Paul Appleby, former Under Secretary of well with goat's milk which, if unpasteurized, Agriculture, has resigned as the U. S. Foreign Service began Novem- Assistant Direc- may carry Malta or undulant fever. It is V tor of the Budget to become Dean of the Max- hoped the test can soon be so modified as to ber 13, with the Department being rep- well Graduate School of Citizenship and apply to cheese made from goat milk. resented by L. A. Wheeler on the newly Public Affairs at Syracuse University. established Board of the Foreign Service. Samuel H. McCrory retires: Mr. McCrory, Present planning includes an oral ex- Important Recent Achievements of Depart- USDA agricultural engineer, retired Novem- amination under the Manpower Act, G. I. ment of Agriculture Scientists: This Docu- ber 30 after 40 years of service. On December 6 he was guest of honor at a dinner given by tests, and the 1947 regular Foreign Serv- ment No. 6 in the USDA series has been revised for reissue as of January 1, its semi- friends and coworkers at the Log Lodge at ice exam. annual revision. It contains brief but varied Beltsville, where a humorous playlet, Memoirs" items in popular style on the research accom- of a Marijuana Merchant, or Pipe Dreams of plishments of Department scientists during a Great Engineer, spotlighted events in his career. the past 6 months and is much used by maga- Mr. McCrory has been, successively, zine writers, editors, and others who want to Chief of Drainage Investigations, Chief of Burbank know about USDA's scientific progress. Bureau of Agricultural Engineering, and As- Write the editor of USDA or phone Miss sistant Chief of Bureau of Agricultural Chemistry Engineering. Glick, 5451. who can also supply lists of all and He was the first FOR many years Luther Burbank was ' 10 documents. recipient of the John Deere Gold Medal of the a subject of public controversy and this American Society of Agricultural Engineers in 1938. During World War H he headed a is in a large sense still true. The best Wool Advisory Committee: Membership of USDA Nation-wide program for producing his life work the editor processing account of and this committee, under the chairmanship of and hemp for manufacture of cordage for military and necessary civilian has seen is Walter L. Howard's mono- H. E. Reed. Director of Production and Mar- uses. graph, entitled "Luther Burbank, a Vic- keting Administration's Livestock Branch, was announced November 21. It is composed tim of Hero Worship." Howard is emer- of grower, handler, and manufacturer repre- Wanted: A Program for Freedom: Some- sentatives and assists the Department in ad- itus professor of pomology and late di- what belatedly, fcr it just "came to our ministering its wool merchandising program. rector of the college of agriculture, Uni- attention," as the saying is, let us call your attention to this fine article by Milton S. versity of California. His work appeared Eisenhower, President of Kansas State and in Chronica Botanica, volume 2, No. 5/6, Vicarious visit to Washington: Recently former USDA Director of Information, in Frank Jeter, North Carolina's extension edi- November Country Gentleman. The article winter 1945-46. ' tor, spent a week or so in Washington. When is stimulating, more than thoughtful—phil- It is a heavily documented and very he returned he broadcast his impressions on osophic would be nearer the word—easily read, and reasonably brief. If you haven't informative study. It indicates that October 30 from WPTP in Raleigh. If you wonder what the place looks like to an occa- seen it we suggest you make an effort to find egotis- Burbank actually became a rather sional visitor from the field, maybe you'd like and read it. tical and extremely successful glorified to read this broadcast. The editor has thoughtfully gotten hold of a few copies for nurseryman, with a strong tendency to They need sun! Do your begonias wail any who care to write to T. Swann Harding, - dismally and keep you awake at nights? Do exaggeration. He had many of the at- Office of Information. USDA. Washington 25, your geraniums tend to droop and assume D. C, or call Miss Glick, 5451. tributes and characteristics of' the true a wan expression? They need sun! Put scientist, but lacked the orthodox re- them in the south window. African violets and marica will thrive with little sun. so search workers' formal education and Mrs. A. E. Harrell retires: Annette Emory give them the east or west windows. Foliage conventional behavior. In consequence, Harrell, first woman plant-quarantine in- plants grown for their decorative leaves will often do well in north windows; so may says Howard, he tended to excite the hos- spector in USDA, retired November 30 after 40 years of public service, 25 of them in cacti which, if you pinch them, you will find tility of many research workers mainly USDA. Formerly a teacher in the District of half asleep in winter anyway. But flower- even win- by reason of his personality, his passion Columbia public schools, Mrs. Harrell came ing plants need sun, and a north to USDA as inspector in the former Federal dow that gives good light may be no place for publicity, his unorthodox methods, Horticultural Board in 1921. As plant-quar- for them. USDA plant scientists say, "Suit his concentration on what would sell, his antine inspector, she has been outstanding the plant to the window." Then watch it knowledge issuance of special permits stand up and cheer. exaggerations in his catalogues about his in of for importation of plants for propagation. findings, and his failure to keep proper She holds B. A. and B. E. degress from Flies in the sugar bowl ornament the notes of the crosses he made and other George Washington University and a special , certificate in science from Cornell. She Is cover of Leaflet 182, revised August 1946, procedures. vice president of the Rebekah Assembly and which gives the facts on Housefly Control. However, he received world publicity treasurer of the Department Association of Ladies Auxiliaries Patriarchs Militant, Inde- for good reason. He introduced over 250 pendent Order of Odd Fellows. She plans to Food for the Family with Young Children issued in November. fruit varieties, his plums being his great- travel extensively in connection with this is the title of AIS 59. organization, but is living in Washington It is attractive, readable, storylike, fact- est contribution. His introductions dur- where she and her husband have a home. packed, recommended here and now. « ,

6 USDA: January 6, 1947 - List of Publications: Bertha Louise Zoelle and calf. This grade was suspended October Grain restrictions eased: The Department and Mabel Hunt Doyle have combined forces 1, 1942, as a wartime measure. Restoration on November 29 announced removal or modi- to bring forth M. P. 611, a List of Publications of Prime Grade is the only change in the fication of some restrictions on the domestic of the USDA from January 1941 to December grading regulations. use of grain. The actions, effective December 1945, inclusive. The authors are in the In- 1, affect the production of flour, alcohol, and dexing Section, Division of Publications, Of- beer. The relatively favorable grain situa- fice of Information. Their jobs are tedious tion, as reported by Secretary Anderson to method naval-stores production: but well performed and we believe they en- New for President Truman in a statement released Naval Stores Station at Olustee, Fla., joy their work too. The November 29 by the White House, made pos- of the Bureau of Agricultural and Industrial sible the changes. Details of the actions are Chemistry, has worked out a new and cheaper in release 2563; write Press Service, or phone method of producing turpentine and rosin. them on 6114. Buried Treasure is the title of a rather am- Preheated sap or "gum" from southern pine bitious and impertinent talk the editor of trees is put into one end of a new-type con- USDA delivered before the technical staff of tinuous steam still, and about 5 minutes New barley variety: A new barley—-tem- the Northern Regional Research Laboratory later turpentine and rosin are taken out porarily named Bulk Selection W 47—which at Peoria, December 9. While the speaker is from separate points at the other end. Clev- has outyielded the best competing varieties a reformed chemist, he probably did go er, isn't it? And the rosin produced this by over 11 bushels an acre, has been an- rather out on a limb. But if you'd like to way is about half a grade better than can nounced by the Wyoming Agricultural Ex- read the talk and confute it point by point, be produced on the best batch-type steam periment Station. The barley was chosen at some copies are available. It discusses the still. the Aberdeen, Idaho, branch station of USDA entire research process from hunch, through and later was tested thoroughly in Wyoming. laboratory work, to preparation for print Bulk Selection W 47 is an irrigated variety. and publication. Write editor of USDA or All about longleaf pine: "Longleaf pine; its A small quantity of seed will be released to phone Miss Glick, 5451. use, ecology, regeneration, protection, certified seed growers of the Wyoming Crop growth, and management" is the whole title Improvement Association next spring, but of a new book by W. G. Wahlenberg, of the none for general distribution until 1948. Southern Forest Experiment Station. As a Still stimulating and illumi- Thomsen: The reviewer in Science for November 29 says, nating talk which F. L. Thomsen, Head, Divi- somewhat scientifically: "This is a concise sion of Marketing and Transportation Re- Congratulations to GS: As the Department and clearly presented synthesis of the volum- Agricultural Economics, Graduate School celebrated its twenty-fifth search, Bureau of inous empirical and fundamental informa- gave so vividly, on Developments Affecting birthday last fall, President Truman sent tion ... on the silviculture and manage- Market Outlets for Farm Products, before congratulations in a letter on November 25 ment of one of America's most valuable the Outlook Conference, appeared in BAE's to Secretary Anderson. The President said forest trees." Then, in plainer language, Marketing and Transportation Situation for in part: "By making it possible for employees "It should of great service to practicing November. It also appeared in September- be to train themselves both intensively and ex- foresters, scientists, students, and teach- October Marketing Activities. You are urged tensively for proficiency in their present posi- ers." The book, published by Forest Service tions for advancement to better posi- to read it. Dr. Thomsen also has mimeo- and and the Charles Lathrop Pack Forestry Foun- tions, the Department has made broad con- . graphed copies he could send out on request. You will find much straight talk and many dation, is available from USDA Library, or tribution not only in the public interest but novel ideas here. can be bought ($5) from the Foundation, also with respect to the morale and usefulness Washington, D. C. of individual employees. By opening these classes, from the beginning, to employees of other departments, the Graduate School has Egg-grading schools: You probably didn't rendered a similar service to the entire Soil Conservation Society of America: A know it, but the USDA fosters schools on Federal Government." organization this held its first shell-egg grading for State and regional new by name 12-13 in Chicago. supervisors of inspection and grading. Last meeting December Mem- is technical training or ex- December a conference was held in St. Louis bership based on Now it's nonsticking doors: Forest Service *to develop uniform interpretation tech- perience, but certain other persons interested and chemists in Forest Products Laboratory at niques among supervisors in charge in conservation are invited to become asso- of State Madison, Wis., have prodviced a nonswelling programs. series of 30 schools for train- ciate members. R. H. Mussler, Milwaukee A wood by a special treatment with certain ing in such work is planned for 1947. Midwest regional conservator of Soil Con- These chemicals, the vapor of which penetrate;; are conducted jointly by Federal-State in- servation Service, is president; J. H. Christ, the cells of the wood and retards swelling. spection and grading services Portland, Pacific Coast regional conservator and State Tests indicate that the treatment also en- college extension services. of SCS in Oregon, is secretary. Among the Graduates are hances resistance to decay and to certain eligible to qualify as licensed graders and speakers at the meeting were Assistant Sec- insects. Possibly Alfred J. Stamm and his may be considered for Bennett of employment in such retary Brannan, Chief SCS, who associates have thus ended the age-old nui- capacity. address, Direc- gave the founder's Extension sance of doors, drawers, and windows stick- tor Wilson, G. E. Young, Office of the Secre- ing on hot humid days. The tendency of tary, and other Department people. wood to swell also has seriously impaired goings: Comings and Laura Lane, Lone its value in aircraft and for other purposes. Star State editor for Texas Extension Serv- ice since 1939, is leaving to join Country Gentleman, where she becomes associate edi- Rural surplus property: The Secretary of tor and director of the Country Gentle- Agriculture and the War Assets Administra- Farmer earns $52,026: Laverne E. Hall, the tor have an agreement on disposal of surplus woman department. . . Virginia Watkins, 20-year-old farmer who received the Presi- former writer of Homemakers' Chats for war property in rural zones. The Secretary dential National 4-H Club Trophy at the USDA Radio Service, becomes editor at the names officers to collaborate with agricul- recent International Livestock Show, sure hit- ^New Mexico Agricultural Experiment Station. tural specialists of the WAA in regional or pay dirt. He started farming 8 years a r Miss Watkins, the daughter of D. W. Wat- district zones. The agricultural agent of the in Wisconsin with a single Jersey t.' kins, South Carolina Extension Director, suc- Secretary may recommend to the WAA spe- and has since earned an average of ceeds Margery Suhre, now assistant exten- cialists with regard to areas and seasonal a year! Of course, he earned mo sion editor at Illinois. farm needs and desirable diversion of sur- during the last 5 years, but he to 1 plus property in both amount and kind. people that there is good money Meanwhile an order was issued that made on the farm. He believes the f each State PMA director the Department's get his start while in high r Challenge to the Cities: Material for an officer to work with the WAA. Agricultural tainly appears to have prove- article by this title on a 4-H Club family in specialists for WAA were being designated. Saturday Evening Post for November 30, was fathered with the help of the National 4-H Committee and Federal and State Extension Snowstorms a la can

Service people. They made suggestions to Facts on farm water: Maybe you didn't tists in converting a i the author, Neil Clark, who chose the An- know, but a fat steer needs 10 gallons of pelting it with pellet, drew Olson family, of Council Grove, Kans., water a day, a cow 25, and milk is 87 percent dioxide may presage t as an ideal couple for a 4-H story. The water, vegetables from 80 to 97, eggs 65, and made snowstorms or ev

! article is illustrated colored photo- with meat 60. These and other pertinent facts haps clouds may soon , graphs. appear in Water for the Modern Farmstead their snow outside citef

(AIS—44) , a new 4-page publication emanat- winter resorts which ing from Rural Electrification Administra- Under some conditio! Prime meat again: The Department, effec- tion. Write Office of Information or pick it the original experinv tive December 3, reinstated Prime Grade up from the patio of Administration Build- earth, might be cha - to official standards for grades of beef, veal, ing. cipitated where de'

USDA: January 6, 1947 — work to be done yet, but the day of migra- books; procure copies from E. G. Moore, in v.'r don't mean money; that's cab- »r tory clouds dumping their moisture where ARA, or write USDA editor . . . Henry Jar- bage— u t it? Anyway this crinkly green- it is most needed may yet dawn. Soil Con- rett's graceful readable presentation of stuff tr.at begi'is to look wan if you cook servation Service snow surveyors, please take the Food and Agriculture Organization's con- It t a long Is stuffed fuil of vitamin A, or note! ference at Copenhagen, and A'fred's Stcf- the yellow-orange pigment carotene, which ferud's brief history of the Agricultural Year- the body obligingly turns into A. The body books, both in Land Policy Review, Bureau utilizes kale carotene even better than it The new Journal of Gerontology has the of Agricultural Economics, Winter 1946. does carotene from carrots, so eat kale for - rather odd idea of getting out both a techni- high returns in vitamins and minerals, bu . the cal or scientific and a nontechnical or pop- cook green leaves In Just enough boiling salted ular edition of each issue. C. M. McKay, of water to prevent sticking—and just Research Sheets: No. 66 tells long enough to tenderize Cornell, one of its contributors, says the Achievement them. to tattoo hogs so as to identify them, notion is at least novel, even though it might how bring the venture to bankruptcy. Or might a discovery worth $5,000 a year, made at a other scientific Journals be induced to follow cost of $1,000. No. 67 discusses a new method Starlings: If you are interested in these suit? of getting better eggs from better hens; it impudent upstarts, Cornell ornithologists cost approximately $120,000 to develop and can tell you a lot. They were introduced In is potentially worth around $4,000,000 a year. Central Park, New York City, in 1890, and Sampling: On December 2 Mrs. Laurel Cumulative taxpayers' dividends are heavy for 5 years stayed in the metropolis. But Sabrosky, Extension Service's Division of in both instances. Get the sheets from D. S. by 1900 they were on the move, and today Field Studies and Training, spoke before the Buxch, Agricultural Research Administra- you will find them in Boston, Washington, D. Cornell Extension Club at Ithaca. Her sub- tion (phone 3780). C, Ohio, North Carolina, southern Canada, Hudson Bay, ject was the use of sampling procedures. Her Utah, on the Mexican border this begins to presentation was outstanding for simplicity sound like a timetable. They like the city, but in some areas destroy and clarity and all who are interested are more Agricultural Advisory Service: Says the small fruits corn strongly advised to pester her for mimeo- and than all other birds Economist (London) October 26: "The de- combined. On the other hand, they like graphed copies of her talk. For 40 long years tails which were made public this week of and eat many insects which injure we have been searching for someone who crops, the working of the National Agricultural Ad- so their extermination is undesirable. could make the rather abstruse mathematics Fact visory Service, which was formally set up is, it is Impossible, so we may as well try of correct sampling procedure clear and sim- October 1, raise the whole question of the to learn how to get along with the officious, for to understand. The ple enough even us future of State control of agriculture. The disorderlv critters. Sabrosky attended to search Is ended. Mrs. Service will cost about £1,500,000 a year and that. employ a staff of 1,750, of whom 1,500 have so far been selected. The aim is to have about $15 a year to soften water? It has been 1 advisory officer to every 1,000 farmers and estimated that, if a family uses 55 gallons of O. E. Baker addressed the Charles Carroll growers. The new national service has taken hard water a week for washing with soap, It Forum in Chicago recently, and suggested ad- over the general advisory work previously takes 119 pounds, or at least $15 worth of mission to the U.S. of large numbers of "dis- done by the local authorities and the special- soap, Just to soften water. Use water soft- placed persons" and immigrants to offset our ist service provided by the universities and eners instead, and save soap: Washing soda rapidly declining birth rate. He forecast agricultural colleges. There will certainly is best; trisodium phosphate (TSP), tetra- half-empty cities in the not far distant be a great gain in uniformity of service, and sodium pyrophosphate (Pyro), and sodium future. He maintained that increased immi- it will now be possible to provide specialists hexametaphosphate (SHMP) are good; lye or gration would tend to heighten rather than in new fields and to set up a valuable chain caustic soda, ammonia, borax, and baking lower our standard of living. The Chicago of experimental farms and horticultural sta- soda are not recommended. papers listed him as still from TJSDA, though tions." he left Bureau of Agricultural Economics at University of some years ago and is now Synthetic fiber research: All four USDA Maryland. To savor the pleasures of rural life, read Regional Research Laboratories are at work An American Year, Country Life and Land- on synthetic fibers. The southern lab has scapes Through the Seasons. It is by Hal made sarelon from peanut protein; the Gay old migratory agriculturist: Liberty Borland, is illustrated by distinguished con- northern has made zein from corn protein; Hyde Bailey, Cornell's father of American temporary artists, and the publisher is the western has made fiber from chicken- agriculture, now in his eighty-ninth year, Simon & Schuster, New York City. Beautiful in feather keratin, a protein; and the eastern not only spoke to a hand-picked Cleveland has improved casein fiber, appearance and text, it is revealing to those known for years, audience a few weeks ago, and frequently and developed a continuous process for unacquainted with rural life, while it stirs undertakes such Jobs, but more recently flew manufacturing casein brush bristles. poignant memories in those who are. to the Dutch West Indies. From there he took off to Trinidad where, off the coast of Venezuela, he is collecting botanical speci- Afore definitions of a conference: A con- mens. However, he is merely doing this until The Moon and Plant Growth: A docu- ference is an artificial lung for the restoration permission comes through from the Brazilian mented article of this title in Nature (Lon- of bewilderment ... A conference breathes Government for him to explore along the don) for October 26, by Dr. C. F. C. Beeson, life in the molding skeletons of withered river Amazon and its tributaries. Eventually Imperial Forestry Bureau, Oxford, England, problems, thus creating a surrealist world of he'll dash back to Ithaca for a while. just about polished off this subject. Ac- stagnant disorder ... A conference is dyna- cording to the best of the research studies, mite without the fuse. there is no perceptible lunar influence on the growth of land plants. Lasker Award: The Peoria Star of November Information about the Department : If you 25 announced proudly that one of the Albert want information about the structure, func- nd Mary Lasker Foundation awards for 1946 tions, origins, top officials, scientific achieve- " been bestowed on the Northern Regional Big words: Use them, if you can manage ments, and famous research workers of the ••ch Laboratory for its work on penicll- them, but remember Admiral Nimitz' story Department, or about the lives of those who consists of a thousand-dollar com- of how he once rejected a young man for have headed the USDA throughout its ex- 've statuette. The Star added its the Navy for onychophagia, only to find out istence, the laws authorizing its activities, 'ons and thanked the staff for the later that the chap was merely a nail biter! and what it did during the war, write to T. ' brought to Peoria. Swann Harding. Office of Information, or phone Miss Glick. Ext. 5451, Room 406-A, for a list of the 10 USDA documents which give Nonskid quilts: Do your quilts slip off the this information.

st) , don't miss reading That doesn't mean you have to nail the quilt January 6, 1947 Vol. VI, No. 1 . Ticker's article on Citi- to the mattress. Our home economists mere- published fortnightly for distribu- You will find much to ly suggest that a more satisfactory (and less USDA is ulate thought, much to migratory) comforter can be fashioned with tion to employees only, by direction of the satin on one side and a less slippery fabric Secretary of Agriculture and with the ap- like crepe, velvet, or velveteen on the other. proval of the Director of the Budget, as con- Of course you can anchor the quilt by tying taining administrative information required transaction of the public business. ing: Agricultural Re- it to the bedposts with ribbons, but that for proper Editor of .V. V. Lambert's excel- would make a man feel silly. Even strips of Address correspondence to USDA >e enlarged USDA re- velvet over the satin will help. No charge for Office of Information, U. S. Department of it the Research and this official solution of the where-did-the- Agriculture, Washington 25, D. C. Washing- is on the statute bedclothes-go problem. ton employees phone 4842 or 4875.

0. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: 1947

I _

produced in any length or diameter de- SHARE THIS COPY sired. It is particularly adapted to mak- ing paint brushes because it resists oils and organic solvents. True, supplies of natural bristles have improved. The hog is doing the best he can. Nevertheless an increasing demand 1 for high-quality, low-cost, artificial bristle is anticipated. So watch out, hog. But we should add that the hog bristles 3 ? -,— used in this country usually came from FOR JANUARY 20, 1947 China; there are plenty of domestic 4 >-- bristles, but they are not long enough because we simply do not let boars live until they produce nice long bristles.

GS spring semester Lathrop has under way a comprehen- Peoria sive bulletin on some 20 or 30 such resi- SPRING semester classes of the Graduate dues, giving current facts regarding their School, beginning February 3, include THE EDITOR got back to Peoria De- availability, composition, farm use, pos- some 180 courses in 8 major fislds. The cember 9, when he addressed the tech- sible industrial uses, and economic value. following are new: Seminar in Agricul- nical staff of the Northern Regional The job is monumental and Lathrop is tural Prices and Income Policy; Seminar Research Laboratory there, a talk al- highly qualified to tackle it. If the ma- in National and International Policies ready mentioned as available in mimeo- terial could be published with separates Affecting Agriculture; Problems and Ma- graphed form to those who want a copy. on each residue—like straw, cornstalks, chinery of World Organization; Non- In addition to the laboratory, the offices etc.—it would be extremely valuable to Self-Governing Peoples and Trustee- of C. W. Jackson, Grain Branch, Pro- research workers in this field every- ships; and Modern Engineering Ma- duction and Marketing Administration, where, and would save the tedious an- terials. and of Farmers Home Administration's swering of hundreds of queries by writ- Credits for USDA employees taking county supervisor, William A. Raabe, ing long technical letters. Lathrop be- GS courses are placed in official person- were visited, while telephone contact was lieves wholeheartedly in stimulating re- nel files, in accordance with made with County Extension Agent Dia- Personnel search elsewhere as a proper function Circular No. 144, September 22, 1944. mond, L. M. Woodruff, Livestock Branch of the Government's scientific institu- This is important in connection with and Market News, PMA, and V. W. tions. USDA's promotion-from-within policy. Routzong, in charge of the Bureau of Under Public Laws 16 and Animal Industry's meat inspectors. 346, GS courses are available to World War H We hit two firsts. Agent Diamond veterans who, before registering, should says he glances at USDA and chucks it Watch out, hog obtain eligibility certificates from the in the wastebasket unread, the only Veterans Administration. "subscriber" we have encountered who THAT HOG who has been repining the fact that synthetic bristles replacing Catalogs of Washington and corre- has so expressed himself; he is un- are spondence courses doubtedly a man of strong principle and his own in the manufacture of brushes may be obtained from firm resolution. Also the BAI meat in- had better get really worried now. For the GS Office, 1031 South Building. spectors had never even heard of USDA. the process of making bristles from casein, developed at our Eastern Regional <

726963°—47 1 — —

published In the in- Oscar Levis, formerly with what Jack novel) quarterly Asparagus hybrids terests of the arboretum which is so- Fischer, who used to be in old Farm Se- called also. This occupation rates him a curity Administration and is now a Har- "GOOD!'' commented Mary Louise, nib- well-cluttered office in Roberts Hall, the per's contributing editor, lets the maga- bling her lunchtime asparagus. clutter consisting of printed and manu- zine miscall our "Bureau of Farm "It's the Mary Washington variety, one st.ipt material he intends to sort some- Economics," and a story called "Elmer," of ours," explained the Old Timer. time into the sheep and the goats, though by John Watson, an assistant professor "Fine job! Who did it—some one still his present notion is to take the easy of English at Texas A. & M. Seems around? I might kiss him!" and discard the entire lot of it. If Harper's has improved greatly since way "Not until you get your wings; he's want to keep in touch, send $1 to Fischer joined its staff. you dead," said the Old Timer. "Jesse Baker get The Cornell Plantations for two Norton added this asparagus to the Bu- years; you will find it uniquely fascinat- reau's list of achievements. He did it at ing, if you have the least love for rural the right time, too; around 1910, when subject matter. Contributions for the Wise man: wise words the rust disease threatened to wipe out are also acceptable. arboretum American asparagus growers. Norton B. A. reminisces on the Forest Serv- "ALTHOUGH thousands of farm families pioneered the combining of plant breed- of 40 years ago he was one of its are being helped by Extension Service ice — ing and plant introduction in this job." workers. He also tells agents to improve their homes, too many first information "How's that?" time he wrote a brief address low-income farm people are still being abou: the "I wasn't technical enough for you." astringent Calvin Coolidge, passed by," declared wise old Tom Camp- for taciturn, grinned the Old Timer. "He combined then President used unedited bell, Extension Service Negro field agent, which the genetics and plant introductions—assem- after prefixing a Biblical allusion to start in a talk on rural housing before the bled from all over the world all the dif- off. B. A. is ageless, timeless, and un- Ext. supervisors' workshop at Southern it ferent kinds of asparagus he could get, that alert and youthful way University, Baton Rouge, La., not long changing in and went on from there. Everybody's of his, and, try as he will, simply cannot ago. Mr. Campbell, chairman of the doin' it now, but in 1910 it was an eye patriarch and el- 2-week workshop, urged the 50 super- act the part of senile opener. Now we sometimes send plant Since he both edits and visors in attendance to stress the im- derly councilor. explorers out to get a single plant—one Cornell Plantations, you portance of rural housing in their con- writes for The that contains the heredity stuff, genes ferences with county agents, saying, can't go wrong on it. that the plant breeder needs. The plant "You ought to go out and get some first- may be commercially worthless but it is hand information on the housing needs possible to transfer its desirable quali- of the people." ties—disease resistance and so on—to Pointing to an enlarged photograph The platypus commercial sorts that need them." of a dilapidated farm home, the field "That's right; they're doing it right EST "Don't Monkey With the Platypus," agent told the supervisors that they along. I take dictation about such work Evans has produced just about ought to spend a night occasionally in Bergen every day or so," agreed Mary Louise. popular discussion of a home like this with no sanitary toilet, as good a brief "But why not Martha Washington? of no electric lights, no screens, and not half wildlife conservation, the balance Why Mary?" and related topics as you are enough rooms for its 8 occupants. Here's nature, "Norton gave his male plants surnames likely to discover in many a day. He is more from his talk: like Washington, Wilson, and the like. author of that fabulous book, The Na- Now I know that many agents are en- His female plants he named Edith. Mary. History of Nonsense, and his arti- tural couraging farmers to improve their homes; Martha, and so on. Thus a hybrid be- some are helping them to obtain plans and cle, from which the following paragraph materials for building or repairing their tween Martha and Washington became Harper's Magazine is quoted, appears in homes, but I am afraid that we are passing Martha Washington. In the long run, by this family and thousands of others like for December. the it in our rush to make a showing. Some of however, Mary Washington proved Agriculture, upon which all men are com- us drive 15 or 20 miles to get to a good home best of the lot. It's still No. 1 after 35 is a form of appllod to spend the night when we ought to spend pletely dependent, years. It's so good that it's even grown biology. It is a making use for man's bene- it right where night catches us. people are living in its disease resistance is fit of the interrelations of living things. Thousands of our in regions where homes that are actually falling down; when For plants do not just grow of themselves. superfluous. The late H. J. Webber once They are an expression of the soil, the cli- it rains they have to use every utensil in the Norton's BPI Bulletin 263, mate, the typography, the underlying forma- home to catch the water. Some of our farm said that covers sheets tions, and the animal life of the regions in people have few bed and no Methods Used in Breeding Asparagus for flourish. The pollinating bee, or pillow cases. Little children are growing which they Rust Resistance, describes the most per- the aerating worm, and. above all. the putre- up in these homes—children whose lives are fying bacteria are indispensable parts of the threatened by diseases, and who are being fect system of plant breeding ever de- robbed of the capacity to serve America. It's process of which the plant is only one vised!" John A. Ferrall- PISAE. manifestation. a fine thing to teach farm people to conserve their land, develop purebred animals, and add the necessary labor-saving equipment from the library Do get the magazine to expedite farming operations, but unless Hugh Hammond Bennett: You might call Soil Conservation the ' or buy a copy on the stands, and read we teach the farmer to direct all these toward the January Issue of all get the goal of better living, haven't helped Hugh Bennett Number. By means the entire article to improve your value we him very much. it from Soil Conservation Service and read as a USDA worker. Evans is on the all about Hugh Bennett Conservation Day. Wadesboro, N. C, including Dr. Bennett's English faculty of Northwestern Uni- The supervisors' workshop was held reminiscent address. A Dream Coming True. versity, but wrote in close consultation for the purpose of improving the super- Wellington Brink has a fine picture spread,

and as good as anything is the item called . with Albert M. Day, director of Fish and vision of some 700 colored farm and home "If You Fail. We Slump." by Sim Bennett, Wildlife Service, and Orlando Park, pro- demonstration agents in the 15 Southern whose father was a slave and who grew up plantation at Gould's fessor of zoology at Northwestern. Note States. Similar workshops are being held on the old Bennett Fork Creek. N. C. Don't miss this great also Bumper Crops in the Desert, by for the supervisors of white agents issue of a fine monthly.

USDA: January 20, 1947 : — come families (over $5,000 a year) con- sume only three -fourths as much milk as they need, however; middle-income BETWEEN-TRAIN time enabled the Staff meetings: Budget and Finance Staff families ($l,000-$3,000) only about half, No. 133, De- editor recently to make an extremely Administrative Memorandum policy concerning and bottom-income families (less than cember 3, sets forth office rapid series of visits to USDA people in staff meetings. The policy, worked out by only a fourth. Expanded school- Cleveland. W. F. Walsh, of Entomology $500) the Department Management Improvement will help this picture. Committee, includes types, conduct, fre- little too far lunch programs and Plant Quarantine, was a quency, and length of meetings, organiza- 1947 national goal is 122 billion out for access on this quick round-up, The tional unit, agenda topics, supervisory and pounds of milk, as compared with 119 employee meetings, and follow-through. and County Agent H. S. Ward was out on For details get the memo from B & F, expected last year, and a high of 122 in business when we came in without pre- phone 2727. 1945. More can be done. More milk can vious appointment. However, we had the be produced and sold. It would boost pleasure of meeting and talking with all Experiment station research: Research national health. sta- the following the ever progresses at the State experiment tions. Wyoming reports two different meth- L. E. Ide, of Fresh Product Inspection ods of inoculating potato tubers with ring and Standardization, Production and rot to find out how this disease spreads. Ithaca gleanings Prof. H. J. Sefich, of Clemson, announces F. S. Night- Marketing Administration, the production of a new type muscatine ingale, Market News and Grading Divi- A BACK-TO-THE-FARM movement is grape culminating 40 years of research. Col- orado A. and M. College station has developed sion, of the same agency, E. C. Maxeiner, seekers on in New York State, but home a pascal celery already worth several thou- of the meat grading service, B. F. Piatt, rather than soil tillers appear to be re- sand dollars to the Denver and Canon City celery-growing districts. The Cornell sta- in Packers and Stockyards, Dr. M. M. sponsible for it. Prof. Herrell DeGraff, tion announces a relationship between Woods, Bureau of Animal Industry's in- of Cornel] College of Agriculture, says vitamin B, deficiency and the number of spector in charge, and George W. Nichols, that most of these new farmers will have lice on livestock, while New Jersey has dis- Agricultural covered and named a new variety of native of the Cuyahoga County little effect on the State's economy, for holly located on an estate near Bed Bank Conservation Association. Circulation most of them have city jobs and will pro- which should be available commercially in a few years. and distribution of USDA appeared duce little more than gardens. Many satisfactory everywhere and no com- veterans who first tried to remain in West Indies News Digest: This oddly in- plaints were registered. cities drift to farms, now tend to back teresting little mimeographed item, prepared after finding city life less rosy in reality by the Labor Branch, Production and Mar- keting Administration, from West Indies than in dreams. But city men have poor newspapers, etc., gives piquant information chances of success as farmers if they lack about the Jamaicans, Bahamians, Barbadians, and others who gave us such excellent war- IN A recent speech the Secretary men- experience. There is no appreciable time assistance as farm laborers. tioned that milk production was 15 per- change in the downward trend of New cent above prewar, fluid milk consump- York's rural population since 1900. National Garden Planning Week: This is 26 percent, dairy prices up 140 Irving B. Stafford is SCS State Soil tion up February 2-8; June 9-14 will be National percent, and income to dairymen up 175 Conservationist for New York. His office Home Food Preservation Week. Mobilization for action on the 1947 garden front took place percent. Per capita consumption of milk is at Ithaca. New York's soil erosion is at the National Garden Conference December broke sharply with historical patterns less spectacular than that of many 5—6, 1946. Let's keep gardening alive this during World War n, due mainly to States, hence much educational work is time, not let the custom die out as it tended to after World War I. awakened interest in nutrition and to the required to get farmers to realize its fact that dairy prices rose more slowly menace. But once even a small gully than national income. Can this new forms they are quick to seek assistance. Office for Alaska: Secretary's Memorandum No. 1181, December 9, 1946, announced the level of milk consumption be maintained The work is being impeded by lack of appointment of Assistant Secretary Brannan to function as General Departmental Officer and expanded? equipment ; many farmers right now are for Alaska. He will establish such inter- Between the world wars milk produc- eager to pay for work which cannot be bureau or other departmental committees, tion remained high. You can't just shut done. An interesting finding in Soil Con- and utilize such means as he deems neces- sary, to aid him in coordinating USDA activ- down a plant and send the cows home; servation Service nurseries is that grapes ities in this Territory and in otherwise ac- nor can milk be stored like cotton or grafted on certain types of hardy roots complishing the objectives set forth in the machinery, so farmers sold milk at give tremendously increased yields on memorandum. whatever price it would bring. For- rather badly eroded, hilly soils. Stafford Diet and cancer: This Month in Rural tunately per capita consumption re- says that the soil conservation work goes Alabama, for December 1946, reports that mained high, year-to-year changes well as a whole, new districts being nutrition scientists D. H. Copeland and W. D. averaging less than 1 percent. The formed by farmers all the time. Salmon, of the State experiment station, have caused cancerous growths in rats by feeding prices of dairy products and the income R. Tyler Space, who has been desig- them choline-deficient diets. Choline is a of nonfarm people rose and fell to- nated State Director of Farmers Home relatively simple organic base sometimes classed as a vitamin. Known as an impor- gether. Even when national income Administration for York, has his New tant body constituent for years, its nutri- took a nose dive, 1929-33, per capita milk office on the seventh floor of Ithaca's tional importance has been recognized only during the past decade. It occurs richly in consumption declined only 2 percent, tallest building. He stressed, among egg yolk, brains, liver, kidney, ovaries, and though prices dropped 27 percent. There other things, the fact that lack of secre- heart. Milk is low in choline but rich in the was little increase in consumption in the taries, stenographers, and typists tended amino acid, methionine, which can act as a capable dietary substitute. thirties when prices and incomes rose. to bottleneck many county supervisors' But World War II enabled people to offices where the work was heavy. Co- Veterans preference: Office of Personnel consume more milk than ever, though operation with other USDA agencies is Circular No. 29, Revision II, on this subject we still do not know how much milk our all that could be desired. The State of- was issued October 31, 1946. The revised cir- people could consume under long-time fice will undergo expansion when the seed cular, bringing the subject matter up to date, went out with a covering memo from full it employment during peace. Top-in- loan people move into soon. Director Reid dated November 6.

USDA: January 20, 1947 Dutch elm disease: Scientists at the Con- Detroit and Cleveland offer considerable Foreign Service: Under the new expanded necticut Agricultural Experiment Station at contrast in the matter of USDA Club activity. Foreign Service provided by the 1946 Foreign New Haven—Drs. James G. Horsfall and A. E. Detroit, with some 56 Department employees, Service Act, the Department is represented on Diamond—believe that, by feeding oxyquino- has quite an active club, which meets en- the Board of the Foreign Service and the llne benzoate Into the root system of a tree, thusiastically on call and produces an audi- Board of Examiners for the Foreign Ssrvict ^ they enable It to combat poisons liberated ence eager to hear what It regards as a good by L. A. Wheeler, Director of the Office of by the fungus causing Dutch elm disease. speaker. Cleveland, with from 78 to 100 em- Foreign Agricultural Relations, and A. Rex >. This chemotherapy prevents wilting in some ployees to draw on, has no club; its Depart- Johnson, Assistant Director, as alternate. as yet unknown way. It may also act pre- ment workers apparently do not care enough Substantial effort is currently being made to ventively. It will take about 20 years fully to meet together to put themselves out. Yet establish, under the new act, a Foreign Serv- to test the treatment, but if it works it will the formation and regular meeting of USDA ice of the United States in lieu of a service have untold value in saving historical trees Clubs is ideal for informing each worker of a single department. and elms generally. about what the others do; it promotes effi- cient public service and is perhaps more im- A lecture series in the social sciences will portant now than ever. Write or phone be established at University of Wisconsin as a - Fruit-drop control makes steady progress: Barney (E. R.) Drahelm, Office of Personnel, memorial to the late Leonard A. Salter, agri- Year-by-year control of premature fruit drop Department of Agriculture, Washington 25, cultural economist, and his wife. At 34, is and better because of TJSDA re- better D. C, for Information on the formation and Salter was one of the Nation's leaders in his search. Various growth-regulating sub- operation of USDA Clubs. Get together and field; a native of Connecticut and a gradu- are used In spray form, some being stances form them wherever even two or three of ate of its State university, he completed post- one some for another fruit. better for and you are gathered together. graduate study at University of Wisconsin 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid works Thus, and was to have received his doctor's degree Winesap ap- fine for Winesap and Stayman there the past summer. He went to Wiscon- ples, if you can remember the name. If not, Forest fires: In December 1946 American sin after serving in the USDA. He. his wife, call It 2,4-D. Cases are on record where 6 Mercury, Stewart H. Holbrook, writing under and child died in the Hotel La Salle fire. •. times as many apples blew from untreated as the title "The Great Tillamook Fire," pre- Chicago. June 8, 1946. from treated trees during windstorms. sents the mordantly dramatic horror of such conflagrations and their aftermath so ef- Research results: Research Achievement fectively that you should read it by all means. Sheet No. 64 reports on improved prefabri- Balance sheet of agriculture: The speech The Tillamook fire took place in western cated grain bins for long-time storage on of Norman J. Wall, Bureau of Agricultural Oregon in it covered 310.000 acres and farms. These bins wear well and prices and American Bankers As- 1933; Economics, before the destroyed sufficient timber to have supplied operating costs are much less than charges sociation at Louisville, Ky., November 14, our entire 1932 needs. Worse still, in 1945. for commercial storage. Loss from grain Current 1946, is packed with information on the vigorous second growth then starting to spoilage has been very slight. The estimated Economic Developments and the Balance cost of this research replace the ashes and desolation was burned was $25,000, but sav- , thing, the Sheet of Agriculture. For one on 150.000 of the same acres. Holbrook fas- ings in 1940 amounted to $1,250,000. The again turned tide of farm-mortgage debt has cinatingly presents the terror of such holo- Division of Farm Buildings and Rural Hous- upward. Tou can get copies of the talk from causts and the hazardous drama of forest- ing, Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Economic Information, BAE (phone 4407). fire fighting. Agricultural Engineering, has blueprints and Secretary Anderson commented on the farm photographs. Sheet No. 69 says chemical real-estate situation on December 12 (ask dips developed by PISAE prevent sapstain that Press Service, Ext. 6114, for 2688) , noting Maurice M. Samuels, a member of Rural losses in green lumber. Chlorophenates or land values had risen another 14 percent Electrification Administration staff since very dilute solutions of organic mercuricals, during the past year and were now within 11 1938, has become consulting engineer on Ad- or the two together, were found most effec- percent of the 1920 Inflationary peak. He ministrator Wickard's staff. He is succeeded tive in controlling sapstain, a discoloration warned against dangers of purchasing land as chief of the Technical Standards Division of unseasoned wood caused by fungi and at inflated prices, said the volume of volun- by James Bernard McCurley, Jr., who comes often followed by decay. This discovery, tary sales was abnormally large, and cited a to REA from the Navy Ordnance Laboratory. under peacetime market conditions and pre- considerable increase in farm debts con- There McCurley directed a staff of engineers war prices, effected savings of some $4,000,000. tracted to buy land. engaged in developing new methods and Interested industries and lumbermen con- techniques, as well as special test equipment, tributed to the costs of the work. in connection with the VT fuse and its com- Ernest N. Cory was elected president of ponents. Earlier he spent 6 years in the Office of Hearing Examiners: This Office the American Association of Economic En- Navy. He took his bachelor's and doctor's was established bv Secretary's Memorandum tomologists at the fifty-eighth annual meet- degrees in engineering at Johns Hopkins, his No. 1180, December 9, 1946. under a Chief ing in Richmond in December. He has headed master's at Yale. Hearing Examiner, who will report to the the Department of Entomology for Uni- Secretary. Earl J. Smith was designated, versity of Maryland since 1914; he Is a grad- acting. Certain functions of the Office of the uate of Maryland, did postgraduate work at "Lee" Kneipp has retired: He (his full name Solicitor were transferred to the new office. American University, has long been Mary- Is Leon F.) was for a quarter of a century Procure the memorandum from the Secre- land's State entomologist, and functions in in charge of land acquisition and planning tary's Office for details. addition as its assistant director of exten- for Forest Service. His successor is Howard Hopkins, sion. Nice guy; we were going to Maryland former Chief of the Division of J. A. Fitzwater , FS, retires: Joseph A. Fitz- when he was. Private Forestry. Kneipp Is the oldest active water. Chief of the Division of State Forestry, FS officer in both age and service. Born in Forest Service, since 1939, retired December Chicago in 1880, he was appointed as a 31 after 40 years of service. Born In 1884. he transport: S. A. Roh- Insects try modern ranger May 8, 1900. He received a succession graduated from Yale Forest School in 1908 wer, assistant chief. Bureau of Entomology of promotions and was an authority on out- and later received a Master of Forestry degree. and Plant Quarantine, told the economic door recreation. His successor has held vari- He entered the old Bureau of Forestry In f entomologists at Richmond, in December ous FS posts during the past 23 years. 1902 and FS In 1908. As supervisor of the hitch 1946, that high-minded insects which Superior National Forest, Minnesota, and of hike from one part of the earth to another In the Pend Oreille National Forest. Idaho, as airplanes offer a constantly increasing men- DDT, airplane, exit gypsy moth: To find out assistant chief of silviculture for Region 1 In ace. Quarantine officials in all countries are how R. E. Sheals, in charge of Gypsy Moth Montana and for Region 2 in Utah, as forest aroused to its dangers and seek to meet its Control Program for the USDA. reduced per inspector In the Division of Timber Manage- challenge. So far there are no known infes- ment, and in other capacities in both Wash- plane, acre control costs 90 percent by a method tations of foreign insects arriving by field. Fitzwater has that promises extermination of the moth, ington and the Mr. made but only close control has prevented this. valuable contributions to technical forest and read release 2668 from Press Service; You will find details in release 2677; write get management. or call Press Service, 6114. phone 6114.

ribbons old: A present subscriber, New for JANUARY 20, 1947 Vol. VI, No. 2 The Roaming Reporter of the Syracuse formerly in the Forest Service, writes: "Type- Herald-Journal, issue of December 3, put a writer ribbons respond to lubricant-6 much as USDA Is published fortnightly for distribu- of approval on the members strong stamp humans do, mature and Immature. So If tion to employees only, by direction of the selected for the 11-man advisory board who, constant punching has pounded the bril- Secretary of Agriculture and with the ap- Secretary Anderson's chairmanship, under liance out of your ribbon, don't prematurely proval of the Director of the Budget, as con- will help carry out the provisions of the Re- discard it. Moisten It with a few drops of taining administrative Information required search and Marketing Act of 1946. We read: typewriter oil In the evening and see how for proper transaction of the public business. "Everyone at all familiar with American agri- bright It will be next morning, responsive to Address correspondence to Editor of USDA. culture will agree that Secretary Anderson lightest touch. Give It a chance to live Office of Information, U. S. Department of has chosen wisely. If any group can aid in the service, de- Agriculture, Washington 25. D. C. Washing- making the proposed program successful, this out Its normal life in fadeless behavior." ton employees phone 4842 or 4875. one can." pendent upon good

0. 3. G0VFRNMFNT MINTING OFFICE, 1947 should read and know everything. Ah SHARE THIS COPY told it is pretty confusing, taut if you want guidance from successful writers, here it is. Pick out your ideal author; read about him or her and do likewise. Inci- dentally, you'll find that George Jean 7 n-n^^ Nathan attended Cornell at Ithaca; also if you read page 169 closely you'll dis- s cover something about Frank George, * ±^- - Jm-* w ECt Production and Marketing Administra- tion.

FOR FEBRUARY 3, 1947

Dicumarol

UNDER the title "Science Weaves An- Kettering So you want to write other Miracle," Marjorie Sacks does a beautiful job on the discovery of this drug, in which Dr. Karl Paul Link, C. P. KETTERING is a member of the SO MANY people want to write for pub- new Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Sta- National Advisory Committee for the Re- lication. So many Department people tion, had a very large part. The article search and Marketing Act of 1946. He is have to write as part of their jobs and originally appeared in Hygeia, but . also vice president in charge of research want to do it better. So often they query Reader's for carries an for General Motors. As retiring presi- those they regard as successful authors Scope January excellent condensation. dent of the American Association for the to ask how they accomplished the mira- The trouble started when cows began Advancement of Science he delivered an cle. But if they mean successful in a clover, some- excellent address in Boston, December monetary way they can easily query the to find, in spoiled sweet 27, 1946, on The Future of Science. (See wrong writers, for instance the editor thing that made them bleed to death on Science of that date.) Two or three of USDA, who writes plenty but never the prairies of North Dakota and adja- cent Alberta. The clotting power of things he said are of special interest to mastered the art of making money at it. their blood progressively declined and us. Speaking of food, for instance: At last, however, a book has appeared then fatal hemorrhage set in. The dis- Only 25 percent of the 2,000,000,000 people from Charles Scribner's Sons in New ease was variously diagnosed but finally of the earth are properly nourished. Only York which will enable these searchers 500,000,000 ever get enough of the proper it was decided that badly cured sweet 1 food. This is not because of natural limita- to find their answers. It is entitled clover contained a substance which pro- tions. We have the scientific knowledge to "Writers and Writing" and is by Robert provide an adequate diet for everyone if the duced it. information were properly applied. The false van Gelder, of the New York Times. In This substance Dr. Link crystallized barriers erected by man himself are responsi- it the author publishes brief interviews ble. The antiquated social systems, igno- identified, with the assistance of with 90-odd top-flight writers his and rance, stupidity, and fear prevent a large among H. A. Campbell and a research team. percentage of the peoples of the world from 1,500 acquaintances and friends in the enjoying even the anticoagulant substance named most fundamental of the writing game. These subjects of inter- The was benefits of science. dicumarol and it imparts a character- view, mostly big money makers, tell how With reference to soil depletion he istic odor to spoiled sweet clover. In a they go about writing. said: "I believe that, if necessity de- few months Charles F. Hueber and Mark To whet your curiosity, some of them mands, we can turn to our inexhaustible Stahmann managed to accumulate a can work only an hour or two a day; 4 or supply of minerals in the sea for all the teaspoonful of the material. Later di- 5 hours seems to be about the best any plant food we will ever need to keep our cumarol was synthesized and it was can do, except a few who work 12-hour farm land productive, just as we have shown that vitamins A and C counter- stretches or even longer. Some rough gone to the air for nitrogen." He then acted its effect. out on cheap paper and throw away first detailed the Mayo Clinic took notice at this point enormous quantities of vari- drafts; some make first drafts full of ous mineral and tested the drug on dog's blood, and i elements the sea contains. blank spaces and fill these in later. Some then on 70 cases of pulmonary embolism, Finally he emphasized that it took gen- almost endlessly polish; others send their caused by blood clots, in human beings. erations to solve many research prob- first draft to the printer almost unal- The results were highly beneficial; all lems, saying: tered. Some demand quiet, some de- but two recovered. Equally favorable Research must be started years before the mand noise; some cannot stand the results elsewhere the results come into general use. Many things, were gotten and country; some require an old grapho- " started as such 100 years ago, have just re- drug also proved effective in thrombosis cently come into use. Work on synthetic phone record grinding raucously away rubber of veins in the legs, caused by formation j started back in 1826, when Faraday r helped to establish that the chief constitu- before they can work. of blood clots which the drug liquefied

I ent of natural rubber was a hydrocarbon. Many start on easy work, rewriting and rendered harmless. However, the In 1860 the English | chemist, Williams, iso- lated isoprene from rubber. It was not until what they did yesterday, to get them go- drug must always be used with great- World War I that synthetic rubber was pro- ing. Nearly all say they despise writing est care and under a physician's direc- duced in small quantity. Continued research produced the synthetic rubber necessary for and will doodle at anything else to get tion as careless usage can produce fatal our use in World War n. It has taken 120 out of it, but a few love writing. Some hemorrhage. Again, as in streptomycin, years for the results of research, inventions, and discoveries in the field of synthetic rub- drink heavily; some none at all. Some we have a case where agricultural re- ber to be brought into general use. say that a writer should not read and search performed a miracle for medi- Read the entire address if possible. should know nothing; some that he cine.

T2S621' —

has been assistant traffic director of the Dis- gations of forest products. He has com- floral tributes were turned to this purpose trict of Columbia since 1927. A native of pleted studies of the use and manufacture when contributors understood the family's Tennessee, he was educated at the University of lumber in over 50 different classes of wood- wishes. of that State and at George Washington. using industries, and conducted research in the editor's student recollections at the manufacture, grading, inspection, stor- One of REA extension specialist: H. S. Pringle has Agricultural College was age, of other forest | the then Maryland and use lumber and been appointed by Rural Electrification Ad- lecturing on how the automobile products. Since establishment of the Tech- Eldridge ministration to serve as liaison officer with* toll knell on macadam roads. nical Committee on Preservation of the would the Wood Extension Service, both in the Washington Federal Specifications Board, he has been office and in the States. He will aid in de- its chairman. his is antiques. A hobby of veloping REA extension programs and ma- His home is in Chevy Chase, Md. Swenson comes to Washington: Big bluff terials. Pringle served several years as rural Theodore L. Swenson, Director of the Western electrification extension specialist In New Regional Research Laboratory—who some- York State, but, since 1942, has been with War genial Morse Salisbury, former chief of radio and how infects entire agencies with his Production Board and Civilian Production Director of Information for USDA, recently competence—has been brought to Washing- Administration in Washington. He will dear became assistant to Secretary General D. A. ton as special assistant to Dr. Louis B. with all phases of rural use of electric power. Howard, Chief of the Bureau of Agricultural FitzGerald of the International Emergency and Industrial Chemistry. He has directed Food Council (successor to the Combined will be Food Board) in Washington, D. C. Since Citizenship in a World Community: Ex- the western lab since its creation and ) succeeded there by Dr. Michael J. Copley, leaving the Department he has been with tension Director M. L. Wilson's talk by this capable head of the Analytical and Physical UNRRA and later with the Committee on title, given before the National 4-H Club Chemistry Division of the eastern lab, who Economic Development; he also saw brief Assembly in Chicago, December 2, 1946, was took degrees at Catholic University and the service with the Famine Emergency Com- an excellent presentation of the topic. Copies I University of Illinois. Swenson, a graduate mittee. are available from Extension Information; of Washington State, has been in AIC for 17 write or call 6283. years. His new position was created to im- Did you know that in 16 States and any prove and if possible expand the utilization number of counties rural homemakers Don't take this example: On February 2. of farm crops and products in processed foods (housewives to you) donate thousands of 1917, the present editor of USDA addressed dollars to make It possible for 4-H Club a letter to a friend In the Canary Islands. members or other rural girls to study home On October 30, 1946, the recipient sat him' i Research and marketing committees: E. A. economics in college? Funds are set up, down and typed a reply, which reached the Meyer, Administrator of the Research and sometimes memorializing individuals, loans editor December 20 the same year, after hav- Marketing Act of 1946, asked some 250 na- are made for scholarships, and graduates re- ing gone to several cities and a host of an- tional producer and commodity organizations pay the loans after getting established in life. cient addresses. The reply made no men- nominate, by January 6 if possible, mem- to tion whatever of a 30-year time lapse. Don't bers of the commodity and functional com- take this example; reply to all correspondence mittees to be established, as recommended Talking and learning: It was a wise man promptly—the same day the letter comes in. the National Advisory Committee for the by who prefaced his speech with the remark if possible. in December. Requests for act, which met it would not be long because, said he, com- that nominations were for 17 commodity "I have found out by experience that I seldom livestock, dairy, poultry poul- mittees— and if ever learned anything while I was talking." Photographic organization chart: In con- try products, citrus fruits, deciduous fruits, You just have to listen to learn. nection with what was said about such charts potatoes, nuts, grains, feeds and vegetables, in USDA December 9, page 4—Forest Service seeds, rice, dried beans and peas, cotton, wool, already has one. Employee Counselor Eliza- flax- tobacco, peanuts, and soybeans and Farm wages: British journals indicate that beth Puryear is responsible and it's a honey. seed—and for 4 functional committees farm owners in the United Kingdom would transportation, storage, packaging, and for- not object to paying their hired labor the His Royal Highness, Amir Saud, Crown eign trade. equivalent of $50 a week, if they would only Prince of Saudi Arabia, was a recent visitor do the work. The difficulty is not the wage but the fact that farm workers simply do not to the Agricultural Research Center, Belts- Hark the lively dinosaur! In the course of want to get on with the job over there. ville, Md., where his host was Secretary An- locating the Caracas Mesa timber access road derson. The royal visitor is observing farm out in Forest Service Region 3, two fairly well practices In several parts of the U.S. preserved dinosaur tracks were found in a On Being Country Minded, by E. R. Mcln- formation of the Cretaceous Age—rather rare tyre, Offire of Information, is an article in The Sam Reck, New Jersey extension service, was ,_ find, they say. For your information, such Land for Autumn 1946, to which your atten- , the interested recipient of a February tracks are usually found in the Morrison tion is invited. Mclntyre produces a weekly Farm Journal, formation of the Jurassic Age. The tracks letter to farm-paper editors. He confesses to containing his readable article on discovered were 3-toed, 16 by 20 inches; having a country mind himself, "one that has Sky-Dusting Headaches, while we visited him recently. Meanwhile Louis Brackeen of Ala- dainty little thing, the dinosaur. been ventilated and insulated and thus escaped some of the contagion and false atti- bama and Herb Graham of Oklahoma made tudes of the moment." the Country Gentleman, and Hadley Read" and Dutch Elder, Iowa, and also Herb again, H. B. Boyd, Director of Price, Production appeared in Successful Farming—both in n and Marketing Administration since spring Carniiorcus man: In his latest (almost) January issues. These boys can not only tell 1944, resigned December 27 to enter private book. Not by Bread Alone (Macmillan, New others how to write; they do a good job of originally "* * industry. Boyd Joined AAA in 1933, York). Vilhlalmur Stefansson again defends it themselves, though Sam admits that at coming to Washington from the Connecticut his thesis that a purely carnivorous diet is a least one of his specialists can sometimes tell and Massachusetts tobacco program a year healthful one for man in Tropic, Temperate, him how to write, too! later; he remained in AAA until May 1942, or Arctic Zone. In an introductory note when he became vice president of Commodity Dr. Eugene F. Du Bois explains that active Credit Corporation; he was later assistant hunters in many parts of the world subsist Newcastle disease research program: A co- director, Office for Agricultural War Relations, on nothing but a small subdivision of No. ordinated Federal-State research program ori* assistant to the Associate Director of War 5 in USDA's "Basic Seven" food groups, while Newcastle disease was formulated by a con- Food Administration, and Deputy Director, strict vegetarians exclude Group 4 and but- ference of Federal and State workers called Office of Production. A native of Canada ter In Group 7. Stefansson is as always by Bureau of Animal Industry and held re who grew up on a grain farm, Eoyd graduated readable and stimulating. cently in Baltimore. For details get releast from the University of Saskatchewan in 1923, 2678 from Press Service; phone 6114. with a B. S. in agriculture, and worked in the university and In the provincial govern- Robert L. Pendleton, Office of Foreign Agri- ment for some time before taking his Ph. D. cultural Relations, has been appointed pro- In economics and marketing at Cornell, tropical agriculture and soils at fessor of 3- 1926-29. Johns Hopkins; he will spend the fall se- FEBRUARY 3, 1947 Vol. VI, No. mester there, the remainder of his time with USDA Is published fortnightly for distribu- FAR. The post is in the university Depart- only, direction of the FS wood expert retires: R. K. Helphenstine, ment of Geography. tion to employees by Agriculture and with the ap- outstanding expert on wood and its uses, has Secretary of *• retired after 41 years of service. Mr. Hel- proval of the Director of the Budget, as con- required I phenstine, who was born in 1882, is a native Reuben Brigham memorial: In accordance taining administrative information Washingtonian who as a boy sold newspa- with Reuben's wishes the family buried his for proper transaction of the public business. Jji in rose garden at his home, Glyn- Address correspondence to Editor of USIM. pers on the capital's old-time, horse-drawn ashes his jj street cars. In 1904 he was appointed a don, at Ashton, Md., and plans to develop Office of Information. U. S. Department ofl stenographer-typist in the Forest Service. a living memorial to him by growing spruce Agriculture. Washington 25. D. C. WashingV' Nine years later he began technical investi- and boxwood trees there. Contributions for ton employees phone 4842 or 4875.

4 J. COVEHNVtsT HMNTIH5 OFFICt: IHJ / SHARE THIS COPY Awards for ideas

EXECUTIVE ORDER 9817, issued De- cember 31, 1946, gives regulations gov- erning awards to Federal civilian officers and employees for meritorius suggestions ft >^> and service. The regulations, provided for by section 14 of the act of August 2, 2 _„a vr_w_._

Congress ) , authorize cash awards for 3 ^l---^^ \^-:- suggestions which, in the opinion of a f t FOR FEBRUARY 17, 1947 Department head or other authorized au- 4 s .. :<--- thority, results in such improvements as monetary savings, increased efficiency, conservation of property, improved work- ing conditions, and better service to the President on agriculture Peacetime farm plant public. The order is effective as of Au- gust 2 last year, and former civilian offi- IN HIS State of the Union message to THE SECRETARY in a recent speech cers or employees (or their estates) are the Eightieth Congress, January 6, the likened to the Nation's entire farm plant eligible for awards for suggestions made President commented on our vastly in- a single farm operated by a single farm- while in the Government service. creased food production in 1946, saying: er. Then, with average weather, that When a suggestion is adopted primarily "Much of our tremendous grain crop can farmer produce fourth can over a more because it results in monetary savings, readily be sold abroad and thus will be- products sell before the if to than war; the amount of the award is based on the f , come no threat to our domestic markets. the weather is good, he can do a lot bet- annual estimated saving in the first year But in the next few years American agri- ter than that. Yet he has only about of operation, as follows: culture can face the same dangers it did 103 acres of cropland for every 100 he Savings of $1-$1,000 award of $10 for each after — World War L" had before the war. $200 of saving with minimum of $10 for any He then related how the farmer could He doesn't have as much help as he adopted suggestion; savings of $1,000—$10,- 000 award of $50 for first $1,000 of saving not at that time adjust his acreage to before the war, he has — had but more ma- and of $25 for each additional $1,000 of sav- peacetime demand, whereupon produc- chinery, is using 85 percent more fer- ing; savings of $10,00O-$100.000—award of $275 for first $10,000 of saving and of $50 tion remained high, surpluses accumu- tilizer and 3 times as much lime, has bet- for each additional $10,000 of saving; savings lated, and disaster followed. "We must ter crop varieties and insect control, and of $100,000 or more—award of $725 for first $100,000 of saving and of $100 for each addi- i make sure of meeting the problems feeds his livestock better. He's still pro- tional $100,000 of saving, the maximum award which we failed to meet after the first ducing most commodities at about the for any one suggestion (except for War and World War." Present laws stabilize rate he was at the war's end, but he Navy Departments) not to exceed $1,000. 1947-48, farm prices for during which knows that markets are changing, that A Department head may set a different period we must maintain and develop there are more changes ahead, and that amount (subject to the limitation) for markets for our great productive power. his production pattern also must change. the foregoing awards, and may also de- The purpose of the laws is to effect an He can't just throw a switch and stop termine the amount of an award for sug- . orderly transition from war to peace. his production line, though. He can't gestions resulting chiefly in improve- But the Government's price-support plan throw away his improved machinery or ments in operations and service. was not designed to absorb the unlimited his improved cultural methods, varieties, surpluses of a highly productive agri- strains, and techniques. He can't very culture at great cost. The stage for greatly change the area of his farm, so Information about USDA permanent farm welfare can be set only he must keep on producing, even if the

after these guarantees expire ; the farmer pattern is different. Population has PLEASE write; don't phone. Our staff

, is entitled to a fair income. grown 8 percent since prewar days and has shrunk. Miss Glick has moved to "Ways can be found to utilize his new people are consuming 15 percent more New York. The USDA documents can

• skills and better practices, to expand his food per capita, meaning a 25-percent still be had, but we can no longer handle markets at home and abroad, and to larger domestic market. phone orders for them. Please there- carry out the objectives of a balanced Right now the farmer is producing for fore write the simplest, most legible pattern of peacetime production without an abnormal foreign market that may memorandum you can, in field or in

either undue sacrifice by farm people or , soon end. Yet commodities like wheat Washington, telling us what quantity you undue expense to the Government." and cotton must have export outlets want of what numbers (Nos. 1 to 10), greater than they had before the war. affix your name and your bureau or Market demands will match the farmer's agency, and send by regular mail. Do Federal crop insurance: If Interested in enhanced productive capacity only if we not give us your room number. Your this subject, are strongly you advised to se- have reasonably good foreign outlets, full mail and file room knows what room you cure release 32 from Press Service, Secretary Anderson's letter to Congressional and farm employment at home, the kind of farm- are in. leaders, and his letter to Gus Geissler, Man- ing that conserves soil resources, and These mimeographed documents so ager of the Federal Crop Insurance Corpora- continuing development tion, on the status of the program and of new uses for frequently mentioned herein give the changes necessary therein. The letter is farm products. If agriculture now had facts about the structure, functions, and straightforward, revealing, and easily under- to depend on a domestic and foreign history of and its agencies; USDA's stood. Write or phone 6114. This is an im- USDA portant policy statement. market of prewar size, it would face ruin. wartime achievements, top officials, its 780145*—47 ,

leading scientists and their outstanding being built to penetrate the watersheds poison. There is more to the article than discoveries; the laws that govern what of The Himalaya, where neither sleds that. In fact, the article is rather too the USDA does; and biographies of all nor skis will do the trick. Later he may long, Vernon. But if you are interested who have headed Government agricul- have to get a helicopter or will endeavor in the subject matter sampled herein, tural work from 1836, up to and including to grow wings, because some mighty high procure your copy from Farm Credit i. the present Secretary. You can get a list and inaccessible spots must be explored. Administration, USDA. Washington 25. of the documents by writing in, or see He concluded: "The Government of DC. USDA January 6, page 2. India has approved of a reconnaissance So please do not phone. Simply write by plane of The Himalaya in order to an informal note to the Editor of USDA, determine the most feasible snow-survey Reduction— Office of Information, Department of sites and approaches to them. The separation Agriculture, and send it by regular mail, Government desires ultimately to estab- THE FOLLOWING facts, garnered from for we even lack facilities now to send out lish a snow-survey system throughout Director of Personnel T. Roy Reid. may specials. However, your written orders the length of The Himalaya. When will prove of interest. Reductions in force will always be honored and filled just as snow surveys be started in Tibet at the result from discontinued or reduced ap- soon as we possibly can fill them. source of the Yangtze and in Iran and propriations, reorganization or abolition Korea?" of jobs or units, setting of personnel If he's asking us our answer is: When ceilings by the Bureau of the Budget, or Dr. Church chooses to get around to it. End of hostilities completion of Department programs or Here we sit still in an office chair and he projects. If separations become neces- December 31, gallivants all over the Himalayan Moun- ON 1946, President Tru- sary, rigid Civil Service Commission man proclaimed "the cessation of hostili- tains, just as if he were in his twenties rules are followed, the first step being the ties of World War n." In a press release again. Moreover we do accuse him of preparation of a reduction-in-force list issued the same day, the giving the Gazette a picture that makes Department out- containing the names of all employees lined the effect of him appear a bit younger than he actu- the President's procla- within a predetermined geographic area, mation on agriculture. ally is! who are at the same grade level and oc- The proclamation had the effect of set- cupy similar jobs. ting the terminal date of the principal First employees separated are tempo- wartime price-support programs for De- Make 'em read it rary appointees; next come war-service cember 31, 1948. On the same date re- appointees and those appointed since strictions on the disposal of cotton by VERNON VINE is back at his old stand March 6, 1946; last come permanent em- the Commodity Credit Corporation, as for once, in News for Farmer Coopera- ployees. A person's place on the separa- prescribed in the Agricultural Adjust- tives, January 1947, a monthly issued by tion list is determined within these ment Act of 1938. again become operative. Farm Credit Administration. He dis- groups by veteran preference, efficiency The proclamation has no effect upon War cusses co-op membership publications, ratings, and length of service in the Gov- Pood Orders, making of subsidy pay- but has good advice for all writers and ernment. Each employee to be sepa- ments, or monthly certification of com- editors. Says he: "What makes a good rated receives a notice at least 30 days in modities in short supply. membership publication? The answer advance and may examine the reduc- Procure the press release (2809) —write is shorter than the question. Reader- tion-in-force list to assure himself things Press Service or phone 6114—for details. ship." If the publication isn't read, it were carried out according to rule; if doesn't click. But how to achieve read- dissatisfied, he can appeal to the Civil ership? Service Commission. Of course, if pos- Snow man Four colors and the prose of Heming- sible, the Department places a good em- way will not alone solve the problem, for ployee elsewhere or offers a job at a IN USDA for June 10, 1946, we had occa- the material in the publication must hit grade demotion in lieu of separation. sion to write about J. E. Church, the the reader's interest. The title? Would On the other hand, an employee may Nevada Agricultural Experiment Station you read an article called "Some Factors at any time be removed from the serv- meteorologist who gained international Affecting the Seasonal Marketing of ice for such cause as will promote effici- fame in the field of snow surveying. We Mold-Damagsd Dehydrated Widgets" as ency of his agency. Removal Implies de- also mentioned him once or twice there- readily as you would one entitled "Why linquency or misconduct; unsatisfactory after, in connection with his cluttered Some Widgets Bring Only a Dime a service applies to the quality and quan- if desk and grave courtesy. Dozen"? Would you? Would you pre- tity of work performed. Employees re- Now he sends us a clipping from the fer 300 words on widgets, if they cov- ceiving an unsatisfactory efficiency rat- w*. December 21, 1946, Reno Evening Ga- ered the subject, to wading through ing must be separated, reassigned, or zette, which carries his picture and an- 3.000? Big or small t3'pe? Pictures or demoted to jobs they can handle satis- nounces that he is to organize a snow- not? Are you interested in widgets at factorily. During his probationary survey and stream-flow forecasting sys- all? The editor must consider all these period, of course, an employee can be re- tem in the Himalayan Mountains for the points and more. moved without preferment of charges, Government of India, to which he is on Then Vernon says build around people, for that period forms an integral part loan. The Gazette speaks of him as personalize your stories, use freely of his examination. "father of the snow survey." His trip Rudolf Flesch's Art of Plain Talk (Har- After that he cannot be removed un- to India began February 1. per & Bros.) and How Does Your- Writ- less charges are preferred against him In an accompanying letter he begged ing Read? (Government Printing Office) in writing and he is given time to reply us not be startled by his mobility and Avoid pompous trade jargon, or 'even the to them in writing. He is not, however, agility, and said that a snow motor was plain pompous; avoid "officialese" like entitled to a trial or hearing, or to the

USDA: February 17, 1947 Ralph was born in Illinois, spent his boy- examination of witnesses, except at the Extension hobby show hood in Louisiana, and since World War I discretion of his agency head. If re- has lived in Minnesota, Kansas, Ohio, and moved, he cannot appeal to the Civil Indiana. He is succeeded in FHA info by YES, extension folk have many hobbies. Phil Brown, young veteran in information Service Commission, in lack of veteran- for this agency, as he joined up in 1935, in If there are any doubting Thomases as oreference rights under the act of 1944, Resettlement Administration days. So far attended the Ex- his whole career has been in RA, FSA, and that the required to this, they should have unless he can establish FHA since graduation in Journalism—except tension Hobby Show in the Fourth Wing , procedure was not followed, or that his that Uncle Sam took a bit of his time in World War II. removal was for political or religious rea- Cafeteria, Washington, on the evening of "Tsons, or resulted from discrimination January 6. About 34 exhibits were dis- World food situations: The food shortage sex, creed, and 130 people attended the din- because of marital status, played abroad may become critical before harvest. Veteran- by Madge Food reserves are slightly higher now, but ] 'color, or national origin. ner and show. Conceived many countries have insufficient to last until preference rights permit a removed em- extension wives Reese and organized by the next harvest. Ask Press Service, write or ployee to appeal. and the Quarterly Conference Commit- phone 6114 for 44. tee, the show was a huge success. Roy Jones was in charge. Gloomy New Year? According to Business k Week for December 28, 1946, the Florida cit- Professional employees The show included both collectors' and rus industry faced a gloomy New Year—too handicraft hobbies, ranging all the way much production, too many young trees ready to produce more, gluts. Our Bureau of Pro- ""ON January 7 the Organization from the many geological specimens col- of Agricultural Economics was quoted as fessional Employees of the Department lected by Director Wilson to Philatelist suggesting more processing than ever to ab- sorb the crop, and our Agricultural Research "held its eighteenth annual meeting. It Fred Jans' stamp collection and W. K. Administration has done much to develop A was organized in 1929 to study problems Williams' tin-can crafts exhibit. The methods to make this possible. Some juic- ing plants are already making stock feed affecting the welfare of scientific, pro- exhibit of Mrs. R. J. Haskell, elephant from pulp, while jellied citrus Juice, frozen fessional, and administrative employees, Grace Frysinger's dolls of all nations, juice, tablets wrapped in wax, and grape- fruit-seed oil are all possibilities. See the to cooperate with officials in promoting Virginia Wilson's dolls shown by "Mrs. magazine mentioned, page 30, for the entire efficiency of personnel, and to represent M. L.," and the copper displayed by Flor- review. f received many oh's and ah's. A their interests before Congressional ence Hall committees and other agencies. A. P. The kodachrome slide exhibits entered Consumers' Guide: A writer in The Pro- by A. B. Nystrom, Tim Hornung, Art gressive, published at Madison, Wis., recently I Woods, Director of Research, was the said Consumers' Guide was worth several Doc Haskell, Roy Jones, H. W. first president, and on the first Execu- Sowder, times the annual subscription price of 50 Gilbertson, and the Ackermans—well, cents. So we looked more carefully than tive Committee with others were Milton usual into the January issue and found an that there they offered convincing proof excellent summation of rural conditions I Eisenhower, Director of Information, W. place in all the world under the title "Home on the farm," piquant ' is no more beautiful W. Stockberger, Director of Personnel material on new household equipment now than Washington. ^and Business Administration, and H. G. on the way, an informative article with the No, there were no prizes given, for a intimidating title, "What are you worth?" Knight, Chief of the Bureau of Chemistry briefer articles about the 1947 farm goals hobby is naturally a personal thing and k and Soils. At the January meeting the and the world's 1947 menu, and briefer items isn't comparable with another person's still about a whole lot of things. But write council (elected in December) chose the hobby. But those who saw the show got or phone (4785) for a copy and read It. k Committee for 1947 as follows: That's the best thing. Executive a more intimate knowledge of the inter- ± Melvin C. Merrill, Office of Information, ests and personalities of their fellow George A. Collier, Production and You'll soil conservation covered com- President; workers. find Marketing Administration, Vice President; pactly in press release 2777, a condensation - Walworth Brown, Office of Experiment Sta- of an address by Chief Bennett, Soil Conser- tions, Secretary-Treasurer; Curtis P. Clausen, vation Service, before the American Political Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quaran- Science Association, entitled "Technology, "^tine; Eugene A. Hollowell, Bureau of Plant important Natural Resources, and Government." Write Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineer- Brief but or phone 6114, Press Service. f ing; Harry Irion, Forest Service; D. Breese Jones, Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home R. A. S. 68: This Research Achievement A Economics; Damon A. Spencer, Bureau of Sheet tells about prevention of rot in young Church interest in rural problems: Luther- r Animal Industry; and Russell E. Uhland, Soil oak stands. Decay of heartwood, which af- an, Catholic, Congregational, and other Conservation Service. fects a fourth or more of young oaks in large church bodies show Increasing interest in areas in the eastern and central hardwood rural problems. The director of the Luther- if The council consists of 2 members each regions, can be largely prevented by removal an Rural Church Life Program recently held of infected sprouts, coming from stumps, be- a number of seminar meetings in Wisconsin, p. from 16 bureaus: fore a stand is 15 years old. These studies the discussions centering entirely around George C. Edler and John J. Morgan, Bu- were made by the Bureau of Plant Industry, rural life. At the invitation of the Vermont tt reau of Agriculture Economics; Dallas S. Soils, and Agricultural Engineering. Though superintendent of Congregational churches, Burch and John H. Zeller, BAI; S. B. Det- it is too early to estimate the value of this Dr. W. W. Blddle, of Farmers Home Admin- wiler, Jr., and George W. Irving, Jr., Bureau work in dollars, increased yields of high- istration, spent a week in that State present- : of Agricultural and Industrial Chemistry: grade oak from the valuable butt logs will ing specific problems In the same field. Lloyd A. Burkey and Philip A. Wright, Bu- definitely increase profits from timber in Catholic clergy from several Nebraska coun- reau of Dairy Industry; Horace S. Dean and these regions. Dallas Burch, Ext. 3780, has ties met recently with representatives of ' •Fred W. Poos, EPQ; Frederick V. Rand and these research sheets. FHA to learn all they could about its work. Barton C. Reynolds, OES; Gladys Gallup and Information people In FHA in Washington ^Clifton D. Lowe, Extension Service; W. I. can tell you more about all this. Patterson and F. H. Wiley, Food and Drug Administration; George B. L. Arner and Percy Farmers Home Administration info: Ralph ft K. Norris. Office of Foreign Agricultural Re- Picard, former chief of information for FHA, Nutrition teams: Many of our favorite food lations; William R. Chapline and Dana Park- has been stepped up to Assistant Adminis- combinations are ideal from a nutrition 4 inson, FS; Lois Hallman and Elizabeth M. trator, which is appropriate, as almost his standpoint—bread and milk, ham sand- Hewston, HNHE; Harris T. Baldwin and Ma- entire experience before* entering Farm Se- wiches, or meat pie. Proteins often add bel Hunt Doyle, Inf.; Esther D. Koch and curity Administration info in Indianapolis, themselves up in a peculiar way to make the i VHazel B. Mercier, Llbrarv; Marvin E. Fowler in 1941, had been administrative—such as whole greater than the sum of the parts. and Roy Magruder, PISAE: Marietta Thomas director of personnel. Federal-city works co- Recent Bureau of Animal Industry experi- and Jnhn W. Wrifrht, PMA; Grover F. Brown ordinator and 4 years as finance and public- ments show that pork fortifies the growth- ^and John G. Sutton, SCS. service commissioner for Memphis, Tenn. promoting value of bread when the two are

USDA: February 17, 1947 . eaten together. In one experiment of 30 Agricultural Finance Review: Volume 9 of be effectively met. If you want details about days, young rats averaged a gain of only 22 this report, dated November 1946. on farm what the USDA has done and will do regard- grams on bread alone but of 113 grams when credit, insurance, and taxation, has issued ing cotton, as well as about the genesis of the pork and bread were fed together. Whole- from the Division of Agricultural Finance, in Research and Marketing Act of 1946, read Acccns? wheat bread is somewhat better than white the Bureau of Agricultural Economics. It Secretary Anderson's speech, Cotton in such combinations. There are more de- is an annual review well worth study by those plishments, delivered In Texas January 28. tails on this in Helen C. Douglass' always interested in the current financial status of Write or phone (Ext. 6114) Press Serviccwi readable and informative Food and Home the entire agricultural Industry. USDA, for 172. Notes for January 1; she Is in Press Service. Farmers Home Administration: Under this Kermit Overby, formerly of Trlple-A and, title this agency is discussed In the Winter Recommended: World Food Appraisal for after a tour of duty with Uncle Sam, in the Organi- 1946-^47 number of the Antioch Review (Vol.~-f 1946-47, from Food and Agriculture Office of Information, first as chief of Special 6, No. 4) , in an article by T. Swann Harding. zation of the United Nations, issued Decem- Reports, later as chief of Press Service, left ber 26 last (write or phone Distribution Con- that position after a short incumbency to editor trol. 3511). become head of Rural Electrification Admin- The would like to thank the extraor- dinarily large istration's new Information Services Divi- number of readers who ex- pressed admiration Radio changes: Dana Reynolds drops RFD, sion. Allyn Walters now heads the Division's for his very sincere trib- the letter from Radio Service to radio farm Press and Radio Services Section. The pur- ute to Reuben Brlgham, Usue of January 6. a man he had known for 35 years to admire directors, to operate out of Washington In pose of the reorganization is to increase REA and to revere him. The complimentary mes- handling the western office in San Francisco. services to Its co-ops In their member educa- flowed W. K. Charles, Chief of Special Reports, takes tion programs. sages in by letter, by phone, by word over the RFD letter and correspondence, cer- of mouth. It was mighty, mighty kind of tain network assignments, and other activi- "you all." The item elicited more spon- ties Dana handled. Rural electrification: If interested in a taneous iavorable comment than any we ever progress report on rural electrification, future published. prospects for electrical equipment, and the Two Blades of Grass: A book by this name shrinking horizon faced by Rural 1 Hectrlfica- twice been mentioned herein. It is a J. Harold Johnson, Kansas State 4-H ClubcJ has tion Administration, read Rural Electrifica- forthcoming history of the Department's leader, brought two of his club members to tion News for January 1947. Do not miss scientific achievements and of those who Washington—Norma Jean Haley (Wichita) Administrator Wickard's rather startling j[| made them, by T. Swann Harding; it is to be and Merle Eyestone (Leavenworth), bottj ' foreword on the inside front cover. Get the published sometime by the University of Ok- Capper Scholarship winners to pre-j- magazine from REA information; WTite or Award — lahoma Press, Norman. Okla. Since mention sent a citation to Sen. Arthur Capper (Kans.) phone 6324. of it has brought many inquiries, let it now in honor of his outstanding contributions to be said that the book has been "forthcom- 4-H Club work. The citation, in the form of ing" since the spring of 1946; the latest in Poultry improvement: Research Achieve- a plaque, was presented January 6 on beha'aft a long list of publication dates Is March ment Sheet No. 71 says more eggs per hen, of the 20.000 4-H Club members of Kansas, 20, but that seems as likely to be 1948, or quality eggs, and better birds for the their local leaders and extension workers.. better >, 1949, as the 1947 it is supposed to be. The frying pan and oven are a few of the bene- The presentation, which took place in Sen. book is mentioned it will next time the fits from the National Poultry Improvement Capper's office in the Senate Office Building. t, certain to appear exist. It seems almost Plan, which started July 1, 1935. The esti- was also attended by M. L. Wilson, Director V before 1950. cost of developing this plan was of Extension Work, Gertrude L. Warren, R. A. mated j $3,000. By increasing efficiency in poultry Turner. George W. Ackerman, and Mrs. Clara, I Time Out for Refreshment : It is suggested and egg production, identifying high-quality B. Ackerman, all of the Federal Extension, that vou get hold of this one-page article birds, reducing mortality, and otherwise im- Service, and Congressman Clifford Hope, of on the last page of Printers' Ink for Decem- proving poultry breeding, the plan has prob- Kansas. ber 27, 1946. It is by Don Ross of Successful ably added $15,000,000 annually to poultry- Farming. It intelligently discusses time earnings. Dallas Burch, Ext. 3780, has men's Futures markets: Futures trading in agrU out, little breaks in work or rest periods, these achievement sheets. cultural commodity markets that operated' coffee drinking, and so on, and it also tells throughout the war continued at high levels how you can wake a meeting up which has 4 periodical: Brief But Impor- during 1946. Activity also revived in markets gone to sleep by informing the somnolent Forest-fire A ; that were dormant during the war. Says group that the room Is needed and the meet- tant note in USDA for December 9 listing J. the ing has to continue in another room some Department periodicals omitted mention of M. Mehl, Administrator of Commodity Exchange Act, "By the closing months cl I little distance away. Great stuff. Read it. Fire Control Notes, published quarterly by relaxation Forest Service. This periodical is devoted 1946, with the of wartime controls, j •" to techniques and new developments in for- most of the commodity markets were begin- Victuals up: After fighting off „the step Just est-fire control. It circulates among and ning to operate under more normal condi- as long as possible, the Department's Welfare gets contributions from State and private as tions." For more details write or phone 6114. Association has at last been compelled to well as Federal foresters concerned with Press Service, asking for 56. Increase the price of cafeteria meals. It fire-control work. It began in 1936, was sus- operated at a loss during the last 6 months pended during the war, and resumed publi- r of 1946 due to rising food costs. Extension Agent Tom Campbell's book: cation in 1946. The Movable School Goes to the Negro Farmer, is being used as a background source \ .Robert J. Lambert, chief of current infor- by Alice Alison Lide and her sister-in-law, Electrification Administra- FS branch reorganized: The Forest Service mation for Rural Mrs. T. E. Lide, of Minter, Ala., who are writ- 29 following a heart Divisions of State and Private Forestry have tion, died December ing a new book on Booker T. Washington, * native of Arkansas who been combined into one, the Division of attack. He was a entitled "Glory Road: The Story of Booker had worked on the Tulsa and Little Rock Cooperative Forest Management, under Chief as . Splllers, veteran forester. Sec- T. Washington." Campbell, who a student newspapers. Arthur R. 1 Tuskegee a Dr. tions under the division are: Woodland at was coachman for Wash- management, under M. M. Bryan; State and incton, tells in his book how the founder of Federal Science Progress has begun to ap- Tuskegee got Dr. A. Knapp community forests, and distribution of nur- Seaman of USDAt'( pear from the Department of Commerce, a to help start the school in 1906. sery and planting stock, under George A. mobile maeazine at year. It covers monthly S3 a Duthie: naval-stores conservation program, Campbell drove the wagon-school for nearly ^ technical research by U. S. and foreign gov- under Jay Ward; and wood utilization (chief 10 years, carrying agricultural education ernments. Volume 1. No. 1. for February, Is thousands of not named at this writing). This combines right up to the doors of colored a handsome two-color Job, apprrxinmirlv farmers in The movable school lsV in one division all FS cooperative activities Alabama. 9 by 11 'i Inches and 45 pages, lavishly illus- still in in Alabama, supplementing in forest manrg?ment with State forest operation trated on expensive paner. It features aerial agencies, private landowners, and industries. the work of extension agents in that State. soil surveys, solar heating, synthetic oil. Ger- man technical developments, domestic tech- nology, and so on, and alms to provide science Cotton liaison representative: Secretary J for the businessman. Anderson, In Memorandum No. 1184. Janu- FEBRUARY 17, 1947 Vol. VI, No. 4 ary 10, appointed E. D. White as an Assistant is published fortnightly for distribu- Old timers: The following members of the to the Secretary to act in a liaison capacity USDA present Food and Drug Administration were between the Department and other Govern- tion to employees only, by direction of the of Agriculture and with the also in service the first year the law was ment agencies in discharging the Depart- Secretary ap- enforced by the old Bureau of Chemistry. ment's responsibilities relating to cotton. proval of the Director of the Budget, as con- USDA: Jnscph Cohen. Mrs. Laura S. Ethler, The enactment of recent research legisla- taining administrative Information required Francis C. Gay, William R. M. Wharton, tion, the recent Increase in the mechanisa- for proper transaction of the public business,,' Alexander G. Murray. Paul B. Dunbar (now tion of cotton, the growing competition from Address correspondence to Editor ol USDA, Commissioner of Food and Drugs), Julian I. synthetic fibers, and the difficulties en- Office of Information. U. S. Department of Palmore. Charles E. Farello, and Hugo J. countered In regaining export markets have Agriculture, Washington 25. D. C. Washing-'-, Wichmann. added increased responsibilities that need to ton employees phone 4842 or 4876.

u. i. oott»hiic:kt rmmic OfFicr t»4T rvw Waksman's problem / SHARE THIS COPY SELMAN A. WAKSMAN, discoverer of AffMn streptomycin and distinguished soil mi- crobiologist, is a little Russian who has been in this country some 30 years. He has a shock of iron-gray hair and a heavy mustache that is somewhat darker in color, as is somehow the way of mus- r MAH'jjm] taches. He lived a very pleasant life as a research worker at New Jersey Agri- cultural Experiment Station for many "f FOR MARCH 3-17, 1947 4 ^hfmmmwmmim years. Then he discovered the new.er antibiotic—he coined that word too—and blooie! Now his time is no longer his own. With pathetic eagerness he asks not to Due to the shortage of printing funds, be interviewed at all unless we do not the March 3 and March 17 issues of USDA Spud flood talk about streptomycin—then he has to

. are combined in one. talk about streptomycin anyway. News- IF YOU WANT the facts about potatoes, men with cameras frighten him. Invita- they are these. What happened is in tions to speak in all parts of the country Exchange part the result of a revolutionized agri- , Commodity come in at the rate of one a day; one cultural technology which can step up wire from California recently asked him Authority production enormously. Potatoes are a to come there for a 6-minute talk in nonbasic commodity covered by the April! A chamber of commerce asked SECRETARY'S MEMORANDUM No. Steagall amendment and must be sup- him not long ago to speak 5 minutes on 1185, January 21, established CEA as a ported at not less than 90 percent of the a dinner program; it turned out to be a separate agency directly responsible to parity or comparable price until Decem- the Secretary. is half-hour broadcast which, he says, was It charged with ad- ber 31, 1948. A minimum support price positively the worst broadcast in radio ministration of the Commodity Exchange was announced for 1946; national plant- history. Act, formerly enforced by the CEA unit ings dropped 100,000 acres, one-fifth Waksman is intelligent, affable, ap- of the Compliance and Investigation smaller than in 1928, and the smallest proachable, kindly, and—very fortu- Branch of the Production and Marketing acreage since 1892. Jf -Administration, earlier nately—animated by an inexhaustible but much also an But production shifted to heavy-yield- sense of humor which enables him to independent agency. ing areas, these had good weather, and withstand the irritation and fatigue of - - The Commodity Exchange Adminis- growers made extensive use of fertilizers the American way of life with celebrities, tration was originally created in the De- and improved cultural practices. Result: a way of life which threatens to end his partment by Secretary's Memorandum An average per-acre yield of 184 bushels. own, and already has seriously interfered -_j No. 700, effective July 1, 1936. It then Compare this with an average of 126 with his pursuit of science. He wants a superseded the Grain Futures Admin- bushels for 1935-44, and a previous high public patent on his discovery, the re- - istration, established in the Department of 155! The record crop was 475 million turns to be plowed back into research. under provisions of the Grain Futures bushels—the 1947 goal is only 375. Mil- He is well satisfied with his meager in- 'Act of September 21, 1922, to itary orders were are less supervise down; potatoes come and does not desire the five-figure grain futures transactions, check the desirable than grain for export, and • salaries freely offered him by private dissemination of misleading information when dehydrated become really expen- industry.

i tending to affect the price of grain, and sive for relief use. Our own people, true He just hopes that all the profits do to prevent price manipulation and to modern dietary knowledge, eat 15 per- not go to lawyers for the various firms "'corners. cent fewer potatoes now than before which are right now building 20 million The Commodity Exchange Act of June World War II. There was a limit to plant dollars' worth of new plants to make the 15, 1936, regulates exchanges, commis- capacity for making starch. substance he discovered, using the ordi- nary unspectacular - sion merchants, and brokers who deal January 1 we had an all-time high of and economical equipment of an experiment station in futures contracts covering a consid- 150 million bushels left, a surplus of 45 or " land-grant college laboratory. He laughs "erable number of agricultural commodi- at least, 25 of which may perhaps find at a reporter's discovery of "antibiotic" ties, and provides for the elimination of good use. Every effort is being made to as a $440,000 word in the President's "questionable marketing practices. Dur- dispose of them for industrial uses, live- budget and says he would welcome a ing the war this work diminished in vol- stock feed, the School Lunch Program, tenth of that—to spend on further re- ume and was handled in the Office of and for export. Of the surplus, 45 per- search of course. Unpretentious, some- r Distribution of the War Food Adminis- cent is located in Maine, 26 in New York what fatigued, yet hopeful of getting tration, and for a short while also by and Pennsylvania, 7 in the Central, and back to work, Waksman at 60 is an inter- in the Western States. However, it is an Office of Investigatory Services. 22 esting and revealing figure in the Amer- that use can be found for J. M. Mehl, who headed the Com- unlikely 20 ican scientific world. As he says, his dis- pliance and Investigation Branch of million bushels of the spuds before decay covery threatens to ruin him! Mean- ^PMA, was appointed Administrator of sets in, and a net loss of 80 million dol- while the bugs are building up resistance the new agency. The order took effect lars is now anticipated. With the laws at to streptomycin and that offers a serious February 1. present in force that is unavoidable. problem. 732431° —47 —

instinctively' what the user will look for ever succeeds in arousing an enduring curiosity in men ar.d discovers how to teach What is an index entries so they can be and arrange the them to read will have done more to revolu- readily found. Simple specific words tionize our education than all others ptrtf together. This is the all-pervading, the stag- to a publication? and common terms should be used as gering need in the pedagogical aspect ol with substan- educational reconstruction. "* SINCE the editor couldn't answer that main entries, adjectives or tive phrases modifiers and sub- question he came to headquarters re- for the marking, "Indexes prepared in the In- heads. It is a fact for us USDA people to con- dexing Section of the USDA Office of In- Pew people realize the time, labor, and sider as well. Just recently the New- formation are universally approved and difficulties involved in making a good in- York Times observed that many New often acclaimed." An idea of the size of dex. One must have a liberal back- York City housewives enrolled in adult* this task may be gathered from the fact ground with some specialized knowledge, education classes had long been under patience. th»t it requires 50-60 cards to index the well-trained memory, and the impression that "inflammable"" average Farmers' Bulletin of 16 pi That which seems time-censuming for meant "noninflammable," hence had annual the indexer will prove time-saving for about 2,550 cards to index the been careless—sometimes to their grief. cards the consulters. Accuracy is of prime im- Agricultural Statistics, and 3,325 Inability to read accurately can easily * to index a Yearbook. A book of 400 pages portance; without it an index is either menace health and life. If the sign says requires about 75 hours to index and to misleading or useless. Without concise- "Danger! Live Wire!" and you look af prepare approximately 1,250 cards for ness, the user is lost among meaningless it and say "Who's Smoking?" you can't^ the printer. words. Above all, experience is the best tell what will happen. Lundberg has Making the cards is only the first step; teacher. Mabel Hunt Doyle, Inf. many other wise observations in his book,** > they must then be aphabetized, letter published by Longmans. Green & Co.. by letter and word by word. Decisions New York. "^ - must be made in the choice of words for Can Science Save Us? policy purposes. References are com- bined on cards with the same entry, suit- THAT IS the title of a dollar paper- able cross references are added, and a bound book (also available in cloth* by The PCA's final once-over is made for possible ad- George A. Lundberg, sociologist of the THE EDITOR took a postman's holiday ditions and deletions. Then at long last University of Washington It is a more printer the other day. a trip at his own expense, the cards are prepared for the than usually good blow-up of two articles and attended the thirteenth annual-^ with strange little editing marks known in Harper's Magazine which aroused meeting of the stockholders the to indexers. of New About 76 Lund- wide comment. page Brunswick

• index is. with plenty of cross references, who I rial to communicate to write that many associations were buying-,. It so that it can be absorbed by a minimum the more useful. An Indexer must feel of effort on the part "1 the reader. But who- Uncle Sam out —why not New Bruns-

USDA: March 3-17, 1947 i —

wick? Another suggested that, since to get the right and effective control for new award is to be made each year by the dairy industry to a person contributing In New Brunswick had managed to lose specific insect enemies." a significant way thereto. r about $28,000 on its $5,200,000 loaned EFQ has close relations with the mu- to date, perhaps it was a bit less hard- seum as to housing and storage space, Entomology is under the wing of money minded than other associations, and the collections become the property Bailey B. Pepper at the New Jersey State College one of which had lost only $97 in its of the museum. EPQ supplies the op- of Agriculture, New Brunswick. He has quite entire career. erating equipment, and some 50,000 to an insect factory up there—reminds us of Orlando—carefully rearing German and The main thing now was to keep the 75,000 insect samples come in annually American cockroaches, lice, and houseflies election of directors wholly democratic, for identification, 90 percent of them for test purposes. George W. Barber, who retired from our Bureau of Entomology and . to signify having to induce members what they economic importance to someone. Plant Quarantine in 1945 (he worked in To-

wanted by speaking freely from the floor, Many also come from foreign and do- ledo) , may be found there happily overseeing the hatching of the flies. The factory is and to return the remainder of Uncle's mestic plant-quarantine workers, and tidy and businesslike. Somehow ladies like investment! Many good words were collaboration with the States is very to work there also. Excellent work is being said for the guidance, counsel, and gen- close. Approximately half the samples done on insecticides for the corn borer and for combating other insectivorous enemies eral helpfulness of Farm Credit Admin- that arrive can be quickly identified, but of farm crops and animals. istration of Springfield, Mass., headquar- others require long research. Items for ters of this region. We were impressed identification should comprise at least 20 John W. Bartlett handles the dairy work with the vitality and general friendliness specimens, including both sexes. at the New Jersey State College of Agricul- ture, New Brunswick, and, if you must . of the meeting, as well as with its busi- know, we were there at our own expense nesslike atmosphere. just looking around. Cattle breeding is to the fore; Bartlett and his staff are out- Adventures with Flesch standing in this section. During a long- time experiment started in 1930, they have unearthed genetic families of dairy cows Insect FBI DONALD R. MURPHY, editor of Wal- more than usually apt to retain the placenta, laces' Farmer and Iowa Homestead, low In disease resistance and longevity, in- clined in some instances to live only about Insect Identification Division of the recently reported in Printers' Ink (Janu- THE 7 years, have four lactation periods, and Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quar- ary 10) on his demonstration that short produce but two heifer calves, high In sterility, and so on. Close inbreeding un- antine is sometimes dubbed the "FBI of words and sentences not only make covers many disadvantageous factors. Re- the insect world." Insect identification easier reading but draw more readers. sults of the experiment should be of great importance is quite a job when you consider there His brief article expounds a test made to dairy cattle breeders. And, incidentally, did you know that dairy cows are 600,000 known species, and that these by the split-run method followed by a and bulls often fail to reproduce because of constitute only about a third of the esti- reader-interest study. In half the copies common, garden incompatability? They do. mated number of species on the planet. of one issue of the agricultural journal article Moreover the total weight of insects on a wet-corn appeared in a style Miss Sinah E. Kelley, Negro analytical the earth is greater than that of any as easy to read as that of Reader's Digest; chemist at the Northern Regional Research Laboratory and a graduate of Radcliffe other class of living organisms. in the other half of the copies of the Col- lege, played a role in the penicillin project But until you reach the top floor of same issue the article was made much there by performing important analyses. She the National Museum in Washington simpler. transferred 3 years ago from the Pica- tinny Arsenal to the Peoria lab where she and you may not, as it isn't open to the In short: Sentences averaged 18 words, works in the Fermentation Division. public—you never realize what a whale which had 33 affixes and 2 personal ref- of a job it is to tell which from t'other. erences per 100 in the harder copy, The Indispensable Honeybee, an article by Here the world's second-largest collec- Flesch-index rating, 3.66; they averaged James I. Hambleton, Division of Bee Cul- ture, Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quar- tion of insects is housed and here EPQ 12 words, with 14 affixes and 4 personal antine, which appeared In the Smithsonian taxonomists perform their daily task of references per 100 in the second or easier Report for 1945, is about as interesting and well-written classification and identification. Dozens copy, Flesch-index rating, 1.5. The lat- a discussion of the subject as we hope soon to see. The honeybee gets of moths and beetles look alike to the ter proved to be 18 percent easier read- around the earth better than any other spe- untrained eye; even the naked trained ing than the former. What is more, a cies and its product is known even better as food than are wheat and milk. Its pollina- differ- additional j eye cannot always detect their great many persons read the tion activities are perhaps even more im- ences unless clothed with a microscope. full article, a gain of considerable mo- portant to mankind than its honey. Hamble- ton probably has a few reprints to distribute species is different; each has prob- ment. But drop from a readability i Each a if you write him at Beltsville, Md. ably existed for hundreds of thousands level of 5.03, Harper's, to 3.92, Reader's of years. Digest, or from 3.32, still Reader's Digest, Farms grow larger—and fewer: Read the of The collection South American to 2.47, Liberty, had no significant re- lead article in Agricultural Situation for Jan- butterflies and moths is the largest in sults. Look the article up for details. uary to get the low-down on this. Also rec- ommended in the same issue: Before Buying world. U. entomologists have at the S. a Farm Check These Points, and Dried Milk

• hand a great master keyboard by means Output Tripled In Decade. Procure from Bureau of Agricultural Economics. of which destructive species from any part of the earth may be identified. Georgia Better Farms: There is a brief Occasionally one of them gets into this E. F. Knipling, recently appointed to head and informative discussion in February Soil country—as the white-fringed beetle the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quar- Conservation of the Cason Gallaway Plan antine's Division of Insects Affecting Man for making run-down Georgia farms pay. raises hob. But as C. P. did—and W. and Animals, was the first recipient of an Procure from Soil Conservation Service. Muesebeck, Chief of the Division, says, award given on January 23 by the Coopera- tive Inter-Breed Cattle Association of New "Just as correct diagnosis is essential for Jersey. The award, consisting of an en- Br. Willard E. Herring, one of the three -treatment of a specific disease, so cor- graved scroll, was made for his part in the original members of the Rural Electification development of suitable formulations of Administration staff, has retired from Gov- identification of insects is important rect DDT for use by the dairy industry. This ernment service. On retirement he held the

USDA: March 3-17, 1947 position of consulting engineer. A utility Price-support policy: Secretary Anderson's available from Press Service; write or phone management engineer. Dr. Herring served in statement on agricultural price-support pol- Ext. 6114. asking for 176. several capacities in REA—chief engineer, icy, before the Committee on Agriculture of liaison officer with TVA. director of the Opera- the House, January 22, is not only something i4cce7it on Tomorrow: The second annual tions Division, and special consultant to the you should read, but is so clearly and so well National Home Demonstration Is REA Administrator. written as to make reading a pleasure on a Week May 4 to 11; the theme Today's topic you might otherwise suppose to be — Home Builds Tomorrow's World; the locale rural necessarily dull. To procure write or phone — homes and communities throughout continental Self -censorship: The annual report of the (Ext. 6114) Press Service for 153. The potato U. S., Hawaii, Puerto Rico, and Alaska. For Librarian, Ralph R. Shaw, briefly tells the in- story therein is well and fully told and the details get the fact sheet Extension teresting story of how the USDA censored its entire nature and history of our price-sup- from In- formation, Extension Service, own scientific and technical information dur- port program is given concise exposition. USDA Wash- ington 25, D. C. ing the war. Until September 1, 1945, when censorship was discontinued, the Office of Association Agricultural Censorship and the Board of Economic Wel- of Official Chem- Laics carrying a penalty of dismissal from ists' Methods Analysis: fare delegated to the Department the Job of of Ward B. White, office: Secretary's Memorandum No. 1147, Chief of the Food Division, Food making sure that results of its wartime re- and Drug Revision 1, January 16, lists the laws of Administration, search did not get to the enemy via its own has done an interesting ar- general applicability which carry a penalty ticle on this subject, which also publications or through letters mailed by it. includes a of dismissal from office. It was Issued be- history Departmental approval was recognized as of the A. O. A. C. It appeared In cause a review of disciplinary cases arising adequate clearance. Scientists helped in the Food Drug Cosmetic Law Quarterly for De- in USDA indicated that employees were not guarding of technical information that might cember 1946. Dr. White has reprints; ad- too familiar with the laws and their provi- dress at have proved of value to Axis nations. him the FDA In Washington, D. C. sions. Those In need of copies apply to Secretary's Records, USDA, Washington 25. Sit and think: A badly intimidated reader D. C, or phone 3320. At Home on the Farm with the City who thoughtfully failed to sign his name Cousin: This is a brief column for the weekly wondered about the item called "Sit and Farm programs: While the President's press prepared by Warren A. Sullivan, North think" in USDA for December 23 last, page proclamation of the end of hostilities ends Carolina's assistant extension editor. It 2. Oddly enough he marked the first two agricultural price support as of December stresses down-to-earth farm information a paragraphs which were merely an introduc- 31, 1948, how many of you remember that: city cousin wouldn't know about—such as tion to the real point of the little essay, the The Sugar Act of 1937 expires December 31, how much it costs to raise your own hogs helpful gist of the matter being in paragraph 1947; the Soil Conservation and Domestic and what profit per pound you get If things 3. It makes us wonder how many readers Allotment Act empowering the Secretary to turn out well, which so often they don't, or thus fall by the wayside and fail to get conduct the Nation-wide Agricultural Con- how North Carolina mules go down to dental to the point when they read. On the other servation Program ends December 31, 1948; clinics have their teeth examined and to hand, on a recent official trip, we found the authority for the farm-labor supply program fixed, clinics sponsored by the extension item clipped and displayed under desk glass ends June 30, 1947; the authority of the animal husbandryman, and so on. Maybe or on the wall at three different places! Commodity Credit Corporation expires June you will want to write him at State College 30, 1947; the Liquidation of Resettlement Station, Raleigh, N. O, for a sample. Errors: We must confess to a certain sub- Projects ends July 30, 1949; and Land Bank dued delight whenever we find other editors Commissioner loans may not be made on making errors. This time it was the New behalf of the Federal Farm Mortgage Corpo- Final 1947 Farm Production Goals were York Times Magazine to which a Philadel- ration after July 1, 1947? announced January 14 in press release 84; phia reader wrote, gravely chiding It that a write or call Press Service, 6114. mere "117.000 uncomplaining cows" could not Write name right: A Miss Stith known possibly yield the 3y2 million quarts of milk daily New York consumes, for that would to the editor has gone through life (so far) Oberly Memorial Award: This award is mean an average of 20,000 pounds per cow discouraged because most letters that reach given every 2 years to the American citizen per annum, and that Just isn't done in New her are addressed to Miss Smith. A Mr. Shef- compiling the best bibliography in agricul- York State. So the editor shyly remarked, ford complains of a similar difficulty—his ture or the related sciences. The award for "Our Cow Editor, after bracing himself with letters come reading "Shepherd," whereas 1945-46 will be made In the spring of 1947. a glass of milk, plunged again into his arith- Mrs. Shephard, with the "a," usually gets Those competing for the prize should send metic and now reports that the number of an "e." Advertisers have found it pays not 4 typewritten or printed copies of the cows (uncomplaining or otherwise) should only to get the name the same on the bibliography, with a letter of explanation, have been 456,323. or thereabouts." Thanks envelope and in the letter, but to have it spelled as to the committee chairman: W. P. Kellam, for a thrill. the person so named himself spells University of South Carolina, Columbia, it. One of the commonest forms of discour- tesy of which we are all guilty is that S. C. The award was established at the Cabbage seed: You may know a few cabbage of spelling names incorrectly. Write time of the death, in 1941, of Eunice Rock- heads personally, but were you aware that names right! We got caught on "Stith" ourselves! wood Oberly, librarian of the Bureau of nearly all the cabbage seed grown in the Plant Industry. The biennial interest on U. S. before the war came from a single S1.000 is given as the award. cab- county, Skagit, in Washington? Then Publications from Forest Service: Let us bage-plant diseases threatened the industry, again remind you that Fire Control Notes is but Federal and State workers Joined forces, once more appearing; it is ordinary bulletin How many remember that Andrew J. Vol- broke a vicious circle in cabbage seed produc- size, and January 1947, Vol. 8, No. 1, is cur- stead, recently deceased father of "prohibi- tion an overlapping of old and new cabbage — rent as we write. The subject matter is crops vastly reduced losses from cab- tion," also sponsored the Capper-Volstead —and much more varied than you might think. bage mosaic, which is carted to healthy Act of February 18, 1922, insofar as the FS also recently issued Miscellaneous Clrcu- Its ob- plants by plant lice. Growers were shown r House was concerned? fundamental lar 66. The Identification of Furniture Woods, farmers to in how to produce new plants in beds at a safe ject was to authorize unite which may be procured in the patio, or by organizations, incorporated or not, which distance of several miles from the cabbage writing the Office of Information. Some of could assemble, process, handle, and market fields of yesteryear, the aphids or plant lice you might want to study it and then take a as if they were all being were foiled, and the industry was sound farm products Just whirl at identifying the wood from whichlch again. handled by one farmer. This is the magna the bedstead was made, as compared withith carta of farmers' marketing co-ops. See page what the man said when you bought 213 S. of Legal Phases of Cooperative Associa- Forest reappraisal: Three of a series of re- Arthur Koehler, who identified Hauptmann's tions, L. Hulbert, Bulletin 50 of ports to issued on this subject Gaging by S. Farm be — ladder in the Lindbergh case, is author. Credit Administration, issued May 1942, for the Timber Resources, Potential Require- details. ments for Timber Products, and The Manage- ment Status of Forest Lands—are now avail- Recreation director appointed: The USDA able. Write or phone (Ext. 6114) Press Serv- MARCH 3-17, 1947 Vol. VI, No. 5-6 Welfare Association has appointed John G. ice, USDA. Secretary Anderson stated re- Scherlacher as Director of Recreation for cently that the U. S. should double its USDA is published fortnightly for distri- Washington and Beltsvllle. His responsi- present rate of saw-timber growth to assure bution to employees only, by direction of of for estimated bility will be to stimulate, organize, and pro- an ample supply timber the Secretary of Agriculture and with the mote a recreation program for employees in needs. approval of the Director of the Budget, as this area. Mr. Scherlacher's appointment as containing administrative information re- a full-time Director of Recreation is another FAO Com7nission Report: The Report of quired for proper transaction of the public service the association is providing its mem- the Food and Agriculture Organization's Pre- business. bers. Field organizations might wish to paratory Commission on World Food Pro- Address correspondence to Editor of consider the possibility of securing similar posals was made January 24. Copies of the USDA, Office of Information. U. S. Depart- ' assistance If only on a consulting or part- statement made thereon by Under Secretary ment of Agriculture, Washington 25, D. C. time basis. Dodd, U. S. member of the commission, are Washington employees phone 4842 or 4875.

I. COVCflNMCNT rniNTIBC omCIr 1»4T ,

phia), and Trace Elements in Plants and SHARE THIS COPY Animals, by William Stiles (Macmillan Co., New York City). While you are at it, look / up the soil -science symposium he edited, the monograph entitled "The Minor Elements, Evidence, and Concepts on Functions, Defi- ciencies, and Excesses." Bear writes so well that Extension Editor Sam Reck can hardly improve his stuff; but what gets Sam is that ...... ] Dr. Bear can occasionally improve on Reek's! Meanwhile, the whale is doing mighty well 2 for itself.

Washington observes I Am an American Day May 15; field offices also are asked to observe it. FOR MARCH 31-APRIL 14, 1947 Brief but important: Many readers of USDA have expressed their satisfaction with these items in small type which have usually appeared on the Oi<^y»<^wMy>Aiiy^^^^i^oAWww> of such piquant and informative items. Now, due to the printing-fund-shortage brown-out, they get Acres of Antaeus, by Paul Corey (Henry their wish. Strangely enough we have had few if Holt Co., York) , dramatizes relentless Awards to you! & New any complaints about the illegibility of this small corporation farming versus family farming type and using it now seems the only way in which under insuperable odds of depression; Inde- we can get the desired information to readers THE OTHER DAY we tripped, and almost pendent People, by Halldor Laxness, trans- until some hoped-for return to normalcy occurs. fell, over the following austere sentence: lated from Icelandic (Alfred A. Knopf, New Good eyesight to yout

"Pursuant to the authority contained in Pub- York) , depicts the struggle of man with the Seventy-ninth Congress, ap- lic Law No. 600, elemental forces of nature operating under Ham spoilage: Research Achievement Sheet proved August 2, 1946, and in Executive Or- primitive conditions; The Fields (sequel to 72 (A) , available from Dallas Burch, Bureau

der No. 9817, dated December 31, 1946, it is , The Trees) by Conrad Richter (also Knopf) of Animal Industry, tells how improved cur- policy of to recognize the the Department by reflects admirably the half -cleared dense for- ing methods developed in BAI, at a cost of exceptional or meritorious con- honor awards ests in Ohio during the early nineteenth cen- about $8,000, are worth half a million a year efficient con- tributions of employees to and tury; No Better Land, by Laban C. Smith in preventing losses of ham through spoilage. structive public service". Stay with us—this (Macmillan Co., New York) , chronicles sim- can't get any drier—and let's see what that ply the growing farm prosperity in the early means. 1900's in Wisconsin, a character delineation; Agricultural Statistics: The Yearbook Sta- It has reference to you. Congress and the Delta Wedding, by Eudora Welty (Harcourt, tistical Committee is planning the 1947 edi-

President have told USDA to go ahead on a Brace, New York) , tells of a few days on a tion. Suggestions for improvements or plan for honoring its employees, just as both great Delta plantation, suggesting the habits additions should be sent at once to the heroes and civilian employees of the Army and attitudes there. chairman, Richard K. Smith, Bureau of Agri- and Navy are now honored. We appreciate cultural Economics, 2407-S. The size of the the understanding of Congress in authoriz- 1947 book cannot exceed that of the 1946 ing this honor plan. It is a good thing to one, which is now being distributed. remember when people accuse Congress of Jonah, modern style being unsympathetic to Federal personnel. Foot-and-mouth disease: For information After all, everything we have in Government on foot-and-mouth disease, a dread infec- is there by act of Congress. A CLOSE collaborator with Soil Conservation devastate beef dairy Moreover we have our heroes who risk their Service in establishing land-use capability tion that could our and cattle industries, and which spread to nine lives. We have employees of outstanding skill classes is Firman E. Bear. He heads the soils Mexican States and the Federal District, in public administration, in scientific re- department at New Jersey State College of some 2 million cattle being in the quaran- search, in service to agriculture and rural life Agriculture and he believes firmly in the generally. They merit the Distinguished tined area, ask Press Service for 219, 269, 278, importance of trace elements and regards 443, 489; write, or phone 6114. Service Award, given rarely and only to ex- the whale's longevity as something men ceptional employees, as judged by a commit- should emulate. He asks, in fact, why tee of three private citizens and three USDA should a die at 75? Or, more pointedly, DDT in fruit-insect control: The current employees. It's a gold medal of symbolic man high facts on this subject, with special reference though slight monetary value. Secre- why should men die? The whale attains the The to the codling moth, may be found in press tary himself presents it. greatest length of life of any mammal, but release 256; write Press Service or phone 6114. We have workers notable for meritorious it cruises around continuously in the sea execution of duty, who set exemplary records, where every mineral element, including all show unusual courage or competence in emer- the minor ones, is at its disposal if it needs "Talk," said Oliver Wendell Holmes, "to me gencies, possess great initiative, and who them. Unlike Jonah, Dr. Bear stays outside is only spading up the ground for crops merit the Superior Service Award. Finally, the whale as he studies it, and maybe the of thoughts." standards have been set, boards and agency whale does have an idea at that. committees will be appointed, awards will s Dr. Bear is a youngish-looking, white- Personnel workers will almost certainly i, be presented annually on the Department's find much useful information in a book on birthday, May 15. This is good news that haired, active fellow with a slim body and Women in Industry; Their Health and Effi- concerns every one of you See details in an agile mind. He is mentally alert and \- ciency, by Anna M. Baetjer. published by Secretary's Memorandum No. 1186, February wonderfully well informed. His studies of W. B. Saunders, Philadelphia-London. 11; get copies from Secretary's Records Sec- chemical versus nonchemical fertilizers are tion or phone 3337. well known, and he finds nothing the matter with the former, unless it be a lack of some The Report of the Second Session of the superimportant trace element. He points to Food and Agriculture Organization Confer- ence, at Copenhagen, September 2-13, the annual use of 45,000 tons of trace ele- held Rural fiction 1946, is now available. Address the FAO at ments in Florida agriculture alone, and says 2000 Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington 6, to we have much more learn about these sub- D. C. CAROLINE SHERMAN, Bureau of Agricul- stances, as well as about sodium and potas- '-/-tural Economics, has written sium, which we think we know so well. He Selected Rural Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act: If any Fiction in a 2-page 1946, mimeograph. This wonders why plants get potassium chloride readers are interested in the fight for passage . is the tenth year that this short annotated while animals must have sodium, and be- of this act during the administration of Sec- list of rural fiction has appeared. In rural lieves that common salt would make a great retary Wallace, a few reprints of an article novels may be found much of economic and fertilizer, if there were any money in it. on the subject are available to those who ' social value to students of U. history. S. Trace elements may make or break man's care to write the editor of USDA for one. The These lists give only the more significant re- act became law a little before the Food and cent novels, and are biological supremacy. Dr. Bear strongly com- usually limited to stories Drug Administration was transferred to Fed- ' of this country, the list mends the survey of trace elements made by though 1946 includes eral Security Agency. a translation from Icelandic of a near classic. Kenneth C. Beeson, of the U. S. Soil, Plant,

. This year the effect of the war is evident In and Nutrition Laboratory. He also suggests the scarcity of good novels with rural themes. as reading, The Second Forty Years, by Ed- Secretary's Memoranda: No. 968, Supple- The 1946 selections are: ward J. Stleglitz (J. B. Lippincott, Philadel- ment 10, announced the members of the

735868"—47 — — — ! develop resistance, and t Turnip greens: State nutrition workers say tendency of germs to Administrative Board for the De- Investigators know neither just : General leaves of turnips contain more cal- so far the Graduate School; T. Roy Reid, that the germs, nor how certain ..ent's cium and iron than the stems, but the how an antibiotic kills D'iec or of Personnel, Is chairman. No. 1099, germs develop resistance—whether by death s of stems are sufficiently nutritive not to be ' 4, announced the membership survival of resistant .on Even stringy older stems may add of susceptible and Committee on Foreign Rela- discarded. learning how to the DeDartment diet. And, regard- strains, or genetically, or by Director of useful roughage to the r tions, "of which L. A. Wheeler, alternative life mechanism. etiquette, don't disdain pot liquor in survive via an Foreign Agricultural Relations, Is chairman. less of H greens have cooked. It Is approved memoranda are dated January 31; pro- which : Both to it, drink it. or nutritional practice sup Mechanised Agriculture: The . cure copies from Secretary's Records Section, Farming and dunk cornbread in it! annual reference bosk Plant & Operations; phone 3337, or write. even to third edition of this has appeared from Todd Publishing Co., Ltd., New York and London, and contains two Report 1945: This report was issued, The International Emergency Food Council, Safety Food articles by USDA people. It deals primarily "foreword by Director of Personnel T. which replaced the wartime Combined with a highly with the organization of agriculture in the >r 22. Procure copies from Board on June 20, 1946, has issued a Rov Reid. on January It discloses that 10 min- 64 -page report of its activities. United Kingdom. t Office of Personnel. informative departments, 28 statutory bodies - IEFC directly at 1735 De Sales Street istries or Address numerous committees, 35 national so- Washington, zone 6. with Report of the Program Com- NW. in many local ones UNESCO: A cieties or associations, and F mission, adopted by the General Conference today exist to control or develop various sec- Cultural Discontinuance of • of the United Nations Scientific and Exit corn restrictions: tors ' of the British agricultural industry. Organization in Paris, November 19-Decem- restrictions against the use of corn by dis- Actually the book contains little about prac- via an ber 10, 1946, has been issued by the UNESCO tillers was announced February 5, tical husbandry and less about farm Relations Staff, Department of State. It Is amendment to War Food Order 141.1, effec- mechanization. mimeographed. tive the next daw Restrictions on wheat and rye remain in" effect, export demand for supplies. Success: A prominent businessman, when is merely bread grain still being in excess of Knowledge, It has been said, how he achieved success, replied. things. Thus asked knowing where to look for "Never do anything yourself that you can use library facilities effec- informative are the t knowing how to Always readable and get anybody else to do." This echoes Cyrus useful accomplishment than that Marion D tively is a more Flashes from Science Frontiers recipe, "I get the best man I can, Curtis' " widely and having a fairly good mem- Research Ad- f reading Julia Drown, of Agricultural then I let him alone." and I ory for what is read. ministration, prepares for each issue of the i Extension Service Review. Clara Bailey Dr. F. D. Patterson, President of Tuskegee not" the title is thus writ- of Extension Service, edits the "and hearing — Ackerman, and Claude A. Barnett, Director Ernest Elmo Calkins (Scrib- phone or write (Ext. 6028). Institute, ten—a book by review; Associated Negro Press, conferred with. interest all deaf- of the ) contains much of to ner's Secretary Anderson recently and thanked ened workers. If you get hold of it, read care- The County Agent, an article by Fred him for the improvements which are being fully also Calkins' account of his father's in the Winter issue of the Farm made In agricultural extension programs for desolation during 20 years in retirement Knoop Quarterlv. tells you what a county agent colored farmers. (Within the past few years because he was unprepared for leisure, had no home does, what he can do, and what he cannot nearly 300 additional colored farm and hobby, did not know how to play—see pages through Bank- do; it is illustrated and comprehensive. agents have been appointed 283-84. head-Flannagan funds.) Both Patterson and Barnett are now serving as special assistants hivcntions at Your Service, by Albert J. you have a book published, please let // to the Secretary on a per diem basis. They Kramer, USDA patent adviser, has appeared the editor of USDA know about it, so that were first appointed by Secretary Wickard from Progress Press, Washington. D. C. It comment may be made herein if it would due in 1942 to help promote the wartime food important of pat- personnel. contains abstracts of D A interest USDA production program. Secretary Anderson available to the public, free of ents which are asked them to continue serving the Depart- These are classified under informa- charge. FAO: The Food and Agriculture Organiza- ment when he took office in 1945. chapter headings, like Wood Utilization, tive tion of the United Nations is located at 2000 Naval Stores, Fertilizers and Soil Treatment. Massachusetts Ave. NW, Washington 6. D. C. Agricul- is index besides. Did you know that Commerce and and so on. and there a good write there directly, or telephone, You may joined in publishing two bulletins Various scientific and technical magazines for instance ture have for such material as it issues, materials? Recently released Is have reviewed the volume favorably; e. g., see giving details about on building its press release No. 50 Tile to Serve Your Chemical Engineering lor December 1946, the Manufacturing Brick and the Preparatory Commission's Report on a year Will 276. The book is not long, but contains Community, which follows by page World Food Proposals; No. 52, Director Sir Com- a wealth of information closely packed yet Making Concrete Block Pay In Your John Boyd Orr's statement on January 24. block car- easy to utilize. munity? The bulletin on concrete before the final plenary session of the com- ries a "boxed introduction signed by the Sec-., No. 51. the statement of L. A. mission; of Commerce and Agriculture. Yerba mate: See Agriculture in the Ameri- representative, before the same retaries Wheeler, U.S. attractive format and cover with Agricultural Relations, of FAO Printed in cas, Office of Foreign meeting; the Summary of Facts the include r a view to eve appeal, their contents for March, if you want to know more about Preparatory Commission's Report on the economic prospects, market analysis, costs of this popular South American drink—as well Food Proposals: Director Orr's address World handling the business and of manufacture, as about a number of other things. broadcast January 29. on the New World Food and the physical process of making block, Proposals; and press release No. 56, con- brick, and tile. Prior to release they were cerned with the preliminary material issued Voluntary meat grading: Federal grading approved for technical accuracy by members • by FAO for the coming world agricultural of meat has increased sharply over prewar of the industry. The bulletins were prepared census. demand since the end of wartime mandatory by personnel in Bureau of Agricultural Eco- ng provisions. For details get 301 from nomlcs. Production and Marketing Adminis- I chief of the Bu- Press Service; write or phone 6114. Henry C. Taylor, the first tratlon, and Office of Domestic Commerce. reau of Agricultural Economics, and now earlier work of a. They are the outgrowth of , with the Farm Foundation, recently at- USDA interbureau group studying postwar Corn marketing quotas: It was announced at a seminar on the Exten- tended and spoke employment problems In rural communities . January 31 that there would be no corn mar- Program. An immediate sion Rural Health and are a part of the Industrial (Small Busi- keting quotas and no corn acreage allot- education of rural objective of the program is ness) Series of Commerce. ments for the 1947-48 corn production and people on their responsibility for achieving marketing season. The Agricultural Adjust- maximum benefits from the Hospital Survey Lyle F. Watts, of Act of 1938 provides that marketing and Construction Act. A meeting was held First hundred years: Chief invoked or con- recently established the Shel-^ quota provisions shall not be in USDA on February 3 and 4 to collate in- Forest Service, Sustained Yield Unit, and tinued in effect if the Secretary regards sus- formation on the act. ton Cooperative pension or termination of these provisions approved a cooperative agreement between Company for., necessary for consumer protection. Streptomycin: When Selman A. Waksman FS and the Simpson Logging sustained-vield management of 270,000 acres of Rutgers spoke recently in Washington dur- forest land for 100 years. Tills unit, located stains: Accord- ing a symposium on antibiotics, he empha- of Pepsin poicdcr softens some of the Olympic Peninsula, Wash., sized the fact that the germs were learning in the south ing to USDA textile specialists, the dtgestlve be established under the Sus- be pur- how to become resistant to streptomycin. is the first to action of pepsin powder, which can Act of 1944. Only about Moreover, since this antibiotic is used largely tained Yield Unit chased at drug Btort Id in removing has merchantable saw treating chronic conditions over long pe- 110.000 acres of it now made by eggs, milk. Ice cream, meat m have calculated that the bugs have a better chance to de- timber, but foresters Juice, gelatin. plratlon, blood, and riods, Industries with- to streptomycin than they the entire acreage will supply medicines, even If they have been Bel velop resistance certain 90 million board feet of raw material However, the stained do to penicillin, which is generally used for about by heat or alcohol. vear indefinitely. These Industries 1 or other alkali, acute infections over short periods. One of every fabric must contain no .soap regular timber supply by the the most difficult problems facing those In assured of a us that stops pepsin from acting. Your stom- towns of Shelton antibiotic research today Is this agreement—will support the ach's acid normally, remember? the field of

USDA: March 31—April 14, 1947 2 and McCleary with populations of 4,700 and W. I. Ladejinsky has returned to Office of and not enough aives, except those people 1,400 respectively. The company now em- Foreign Agricultural Relations from a year scratch. And, to change the subject but re- ploys about 1,400 workers, to whom the agree- in Japan during which he served as con- main in the larder, tapioca is on the way ment assures jobs. sultant in drafting land-reform legislation back. It's coming in again from Dutch East to strengthen that country's economic Indies and Madagascar. The small quantity Rural health is a special interest of such stability. This he did at General Mac- received during the war years, mainly from USDA agencies as Extension Service, Farmers Arthur's express direction—he was on loan to Brazil, was used for adhesives. Home (Farm Security) Administration, Farm SCAP's (Supreme Commander for the Allied Credit Administration, Bureau of Human Powers) Natural Resources Section—along Laryngotracheitis : Fred R. Beaudette, who experts land-reform Nutrition and Home Economics, and Bureau with other working on a heads the poultry work at the New Jersey of Agricultural Economics. Extension In- program which was approved by the Diet and Agricultural Experiment Station, says that formation (phone 6283) and FHA informa- is now being put into effect. General Mac- this chicken disease got to be quite a prob- tion (phone 4031) also can provide you with Arthur commended Ladejinsky's work to lem with commercial growers—and poultry is stressed: Building and facts. Now being Secretary Anderson. Under the program New Jersey's primary farm industry. It was hospitals in rural areas; all equipment of more ownership of about four-fifths of rented common for 20 to 25 percent of a flock to settle in inducing more doctors to the coun- farm land in Japan will transfer from land- become infected and die, death being caused try; recruitment of health personnel; estab- lords to former tenants, and tenants who do by suffocation from mucous and cheesy con- lishment of local health units; fostering not become owners will have improved cretions collecting in the throat. Beaudette plans prepaid hospital and medical-service tenure conditions. and associates discovered the virus causing for rural people. Cooperative organization the disease; they found that it did not mi- to solve rural health problems is being Ralph S. Trigg has been appointed Deputy grate from the throat; they reasoned that Cooperative Research Service studied by the Administrator of Production and Marketing vaccination in the vent, on other epithelial of Credit Administration (phone the Farm Administration. Trigg Joined USDA as an tissue, might be just the thing. It was. 5952). assistant to the Secretary in January 1946, There was no spread from there either, but after Z\' years of service in the Navy, Noted sugar chemist: Dr. Charles Albert 2 but permanent immunity was Induced. So suc- has served as deputy to Jesse B. Gilmer in Browne, Chief of the old Bureau of Chem- cessful was the method that the disease has PMA in over-all direction of the agency's istry, 1923-27, died February 3, in Washing- practically disappeared from the broiler activities since November 1946. ton, aged 76. He was a noteworthy and States like New Jersey. Use of the vaccine is outstanding carbohydrate chemist, a native worth half a million dollars to New Jersey of Massachusetts, who graduated from Wil- World Soil and Fertilizer Resources in commercial poultry growers alone, each and liams and took his advanced degrees at Relation to Food Needs: We regret delay in every year. Gottingen. After a short service at Penn calling your attention to this excellent and State, he engaged in research at the Louisi- stimulating talk by Chief Robert M. Salter, Plants take aspirin: If you should happen ana Sugar Experiment Station, but soon Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agri- to see a grower trying to give a tobacco plant after entered the Bureau of Chemistry as cultural Engineering, delivered December 30, an aspirin, don't get alarmed, nor conclude chief of its sugar laboratory for about a 1946, before Section O, American Association he is loco, nor imagine the plant has a year, when he left to head the New York for the Advancement of Science, in Boston. headache. It isn't even aspirin for that Sugar Trade Laboratory until 1923. After Write or phone (6114) Press Service for 2721. matter. But chemicals closely related to being in charge of chemical and technologi- The talk gives a wholly new slant on world aspirin—i. e., several of the salicylates—help cal research until 1940, Dr. Browne retired food-production problems, is very thought- to control the advance of blue mold in grow- and became a collaborator. His Sugar Analy- ful and well prepared. ing tobacco plants. In recent years tobacco sis is a standard handbook the world over; growers have been doubling the size of their he was also distinguished as a historian. The new Assistant Administrator of Agri- plant beds Just to offset losses due to blue cultural Research Administration is the soil mold, which is particularly destructive in Serelon, Zealon, Karatin: They may be physicist, Dr. Byron T. Shaw, who has been the Southeast. Often planting was delayed, Greek to you but they actually are fibers in charge of research in this subject in or plants have had to be bought from beds at developed from the proteins of peanuts, corn Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agri- some distance which have escaped infections. gluten, and chicken feathers, respectively, cultural Engineering for the past 4 years, and But several salicylates, bismuth especially, by our "Regional Research Laboratories. also has directed soil-management and irri- proved to be among the best of more than gation investigations since March 1945. Born 250 organic substances recently tested by Federal-State workers for blue-mold control. Penicillin reduces losses from turkey ery- at Paradise, Utah, in 1907, he spent his boy- sipelas, according to Dr. C. G. Gray, Bureau hood on irrigated farms, graduated from of Animal Industry. Write or phone (6114) Utah State in 1930, did graduate work there, To market: What is a market? What are Press Service and get No. 338 for details. at University of Southern California, and marketing facilities? J. S. Larson, of the at Ohio State, and acquired his doctor's Marketing Facilities Branch, Production and degree at the last in 1940. He is active in Dehydrofreezing : The Western Regional Marketing Administration, recently supplied many professional organizations Research Laboratory is progressing with its and has a few answers. Said he (in Marketing Ac- wide acquaintance with soil research in the new method of food preservation, dehydro- tivities for January) : "(Marketing facilities) freezing. Vegetables and fruits are carried U.S. are the big, drab, erowded, clamorous, city through the first stages of dehydration, dur- terminal markets, where there are more ing which the moisture content is reduced Frederick Munchmeyer, who entered the fruits, spoiled vegetables, smashed cases, and by one-half, taking only an hour or so, and Forest Service in 1906, and spent more than hand trucks than parking space and suitable the main weight reduction oecurs. Then 40 years in Government service, died sud- refrigeration. They are the weather-beaten the partly dehydrated material is frozen, its denly while eating lunch with his family, at shelters along country railroad sidings, where lowered water content reducing the load on home in Washington on February 15. farmers take their crops for assembling into the equipment. The nutritive values and Munchmeyer served in the Division of Ac- lots sized right for shipment to markets near flavor of the food remain unaffected and counts and Disbursements and with the In- and far. They are the canneries and other some products were judged to be superior secticide and Fungicide Board, was with the processing plants that dot the big fruit and in taste to quick-frozen, nondried foods. Food and Drug Administration from its vegetable production areas, the warehouses Dehydrofrozen foods are easier to reconsti- establishment in 1927, and became its Exec- equipped to keep food products in condition. tute than are dehydrated products. utive Officer in 1944. He was 55. They are all those physical means—the good and not so good, the nearly adequate, and Mrs. Fuller: Mrs. Leonore Byrnes Fuller, Administrator Gilmer: Jesse B. Gilmer be- obviously obsolete—by which farm products sister of former Secretary of State Byrnes, came head of Production and Marketing Ad- are assembled, transported, stored, and died February 12 in North Carolina. She ministration and President of Commodity handled on their way through marketing was a USDA employee for many years in Credit Corporation on February 10, after hav- channels." Extension Service and the Office of the Solici- ing acted in both capacities since November tor. She retired in October 1944. 1946. A graduate of New Mexico 1934, A & M, Weeds, which, however attractive, are Gilmer served successively in AAA, Resettle- merely plants that you don't want, have Eggshells for human food: Do you remem- ment Administration, and Farm Security Ad- tenacious ways and disturbing survival ber how Mom used to crush the eggshells ministration, becoming assistant administra- power. Theodor P. Haas provides an inform- and feed them back to the hens? She said tor of the last, and in 1945 secretary of CCC ative discussion of weeds and their origins that was to help them put good shells on and executive assistant to its president. In under the title, "Unwanted Plants in the their product. Nutritionists have long August 1945 he was named director of PMA's Kilmer Botanical Garden," in December 1946 wished that shells might be used as human Budget and Management Branch and in April American Journal of Pharmacy. food, for they are nearly one-half calcium, 1946 deputy administrator of PMA and vice a mineral which is sparse in the egg proper. president of CCC. So now Department nutritionists have International wheat agreement: The De- found that, if eggshells are powdered very The larder: It takes 160,000 bees to gather partment on February 18 issued a summary fine, they escape detection in scrambled and prepare a pound of honey, half to fetch of a proposed agreement of this sort sub- eggs, custards, ice cream, cakes, muffins, the nectar, half to wave their wings to evap- mitted by the International Wheat Council popovers, and yeast rolls. You can see what's orate the water off it and to perform other to the various Governments. This is in- coming. Mom was Tighter than she knew. hive chores. The U. S. has 250 billion bees tended to replace the draft convention

USDA: March 31—April 14, 1947 drawn up In 1942 by Argentina, Australia. Have a smoke? Wars have greatly influ- stock and livestock products. Born in Iowa, Canada, VS.., and U.S. The International enced tobacco consumption. Cigarettes are he was a graduate of Michigan, and later Wheat Council now comprises representa- said to have come into use during the studied agricultural economics at Iowa State. tives of the following additional Govern- Crimean War and their use increased dras- Secretary Henry C. Wallace induced him to ments: Belgium, Brazil, China, Denmark, tically during the two World Wars. This return to USDA after World War I to engage- Prance, India, Italy, and the Netherlands. stimulated production and export of VS. in the line of work he pursued until retire- Ask Press Service for 346: write or phone flue-cured tobacco, and now the distribu- ment. Earlier he had been a specialist in 6114. The International Wheat Conference tion of American-blended cigarettes is world- livestock marketing and distribution in the met in London March 18 to discuss this draft. wide. Cigarette exports totaled 20 billion old Office of Markets and Rural Organization. in the first 10 months of 1946, as compared with a prewar average of 5.5 billion; U.S. Income tax on annuities: Annuities of feelingly Emergency: A USDA employee burley tobacco exports were 30.8 million retired Federal employees are exempt from please say (not writes In: "Won't you a word pounds, declared weight, for the year ended Federal income tax until they have received people suffer from a kind one) about who October 1, 1946, as compared with a prewar an aggregate amount equal to their contri-, emergencies; every-other-job chronic whose average of 10.9 million. Flue-cured exports buttons to the retirement fund and except has to be gotten out supperrush, and who also are up. The cigarettes shared by Amer- for 3 percent of total contributions. Sup- everybody else's carefully thereby disrupt ican fighting men with people in other pose an employee contributes $2,400 and gets planned work programs. Not to mention the countries everywhere found favor, built an annuity of $100 a month; $6 of that is tear dispositions!" wear and on potential demand, proved that courtesy pays reported as taxable income, being 3 percent dividends, even when it Is phrased in the of $2,400. But when he has received his $100 cllch6, "Have a smoke?" a month long enough to total $2,400, his Tlie Agricultural Experiment Stations of entire annuity is taxable income. If you Japan: This is the title of Report No. 59, General Headquarters, Supreme Commander Farmers Home Administration farm-pur- want more details write the editor of USDA are local to will try to have sent you. for the Allied Powers, Natural Resources chase borrowers holding meetings who them their looks alongside their Section, Tokyo, 1946, in case you want to see how business neighbors' records and to discover how to hunt it up via the Library. Executive Order 9830, February 24, is the earn more and spend less. As county figures document which amends the Civil Service on incomes and loan payments of these rules and provides for Federal personnel ad- Instructions for a discussion: Some of you 40,000 families are analyzed, interesting de- ministration. Ask your personnel officers who form part of discussion groups which velopments show up. Though Wallowa about this. consider agricultural problems may be inter- County, Oreg., is far from Iowa, the 9 bor- ested in Dare Farmers Risk Abundance? rowers there said hogs accounted for 40 per- Graduate School: Director Lewis H. Rohr- Pamphlet No. 56 of the National Planning cent of their 1946 gross incomes ranging from baugh, of the USDA GS, tells Its story read- Ind.. Association, 800 21st St. N. W., Washington 6, $7,000 to $8,200. Elkhart County, fam- ably and in detail in March 1 Higher Educa- D. C, from which it may be procured for 25 ilies found their average gross was $6,412 last tion, a semimonthly publication of the U. S. cents. year compared with $1,951 in 1940, and their Office of Education, Federal Security Agency. loan payments this winter averaged $1,094 compared with $290 in 1940. Borrowers in Advisory Foot-and-mouth disease legislation: On A Cotton Committee was named Hamilton County, Ohio, spent the day talk- by Secretary February 20 to assist the February 28 the President signed S. 568, the ing about better production and heard re- Department and the National Advisory which authorizes the Secretary of Agricul- Com- ports from their 100-Bushel Club. Ten-Litter mittee in advancing work under the Research ture to cooperate with the Republic of Club, and 400-Pound Butterfat Club. and Marketing Act of 1946, Public Law 773. Mexico in combating foot-and-mouth disease 79th Congress. For further details see press and rinderpest. This is Public Law 8, release 362, write or phone 6114. Press Service. T. L. Swenson, Special Assistant to the Seventy-ninth Congress. A Mexican-U. S. Chief of the Bureau of Agricultural and In- Agricultural Commission met promptly in dustrial Chemistry, and former Director of Washington to plan an operational campaign National Arboretum: Plans for developing its Western Regional Research Laboratory, to stamp out the disease in Mexico and pre- the National Arboretum, established by act of has resigned to take charge of the food re- vent its entry into the U. S. The Under- Congress in 1927 and so far but slightly de- search program of Stanford Research In- Secretary of Animal Industry, Ministry of veloped, were recommended to the Secretary stitute. Agriculture and Development, was chairman by the National Arboretum Advisory Council of the Mexican section: L. A. Wheeler, Direc- in February, to the tract a "library of make Recommended reading: The Principles of tor of Office of Foreign Agricultural Rela- living plants" for use of students and plant Poor Writing, Paul W. Merrill, Scientific tions, of the U. S. section. throughout the world. tract, scientists The Monthly for January; A Study of Cumulative covering 395 acres, is located in the District of Results in Dairy Improvement on Maine Technological Gains and Their Uses: This Columbia between the Anacostia River and Farms by Horn Elevation, John Gould, Farm is a profoundly thought-provoking, fact- Bladensburg Road at M St. Quarterly, Winter 1946. Sound sense plus packed article in Science for February 28, laughter in both cases. The editor has some by Frederick C. Mills of Columbia. It Is a VSDA Motion Picture Service, Office of In- reprints of the first article; to get one write review of some recent economic changes, formation, reports that 24 million people saw T. Swann Harding, Office of Information, 1899-1945; it covers only 4 pages, is a bit USDA films during 1946, and there is a system Department of Agriculture, Washington 25, difficult to read, but worth the expenditure of 76 local cooperating film libraries in every D. C. of energy so dissipated, and then some. State, T. H.. Alaska, and P. R. Facilities of the service include script writers, directors, Mordccai Ezekiel, economist in the Bureau Two Blades of Grass: The book of this camera crews, sound stage and recording of Agricultural Economics, has resigned to title, by T. Swann Harding, discussing the ' equipment; it has its own laboratory, and go to FAO. There, in H. R. Tolley's Division scientific achievements of the USDA 10.000 prints are circulating. The service of Economics and Statistics, he can expand throughout its history, as well as those who started in 1912; a thousand pictures have into international fields his present work on made these achievements, now actually been released, selected ones having been the desirable balance between agricultural exists. It has 350 pages, illustrations, and languages. translated into 22 MPS renders and industrial development. Other phases a fine index; it is attractively bound in green. service other much to Government agencies. of the United Nations' program, such as the The publisher Is University of Oklahoma 574. See also Miscellaneous Publication International Bank, will provide points of Press. Whether it Is a good book or not Is contact where his experience will be valuable, decidedly not for us to say. Judge for your- for International study and foreign travel Ray Sylvester: A field employee of Produc- self. It became available in bookstores tion and Marketing Administration has sent are nothing new to him. March 20. Procure from your own bookseller in a first-class story about C. R. (Ray) Syl- or borrow from the USDA Library. vester, a hero not only of the "Battle of Cali- Harry Carr, of Production and Marketing office, writes fornia," but also of rugged going with the Administration's New York Fourth Infantry Division of General Bradley's about their new Directory of Federal -State March 31-April 14, 1947 Vol. VI, No. 7-8 First Army, where. In the real battle of Hurt- Market News Services In the Northeastern gen Forest, he was seriously injured by a States. This is the first attempt, as far as German mortar shell. In fact he lost both he knows, to list for any U. S. region all daily, USDA Is published fortnightly for distri- legs, but that doesn't hold him down, and the weekly, and other frequently Issued news bution to employees only, by direction of same sustained courage that won him the In- reports on farm commodities—Federal, State, the Secretary of Agriculture and with the fantry Combat Badge, Silver Star, Bronze or Federal-State. It will run about 35 pages. approval of the Director of the Budget, as Star, Purple Heart, and two President lal Unit containing administrative Information re- Citations animates Captain Sylvester in the Charles L. Harlan, who headed the live- quired for proper transaction of the public Administrative Services Division of PMA at stock and poultry statistical work of Bureau business. San Francisco. Able to walk with a cane, his of Agricultural Economics, has retired after Address correspondence to Editor of cheerful outlook and ready grin Inspire the 26 years of Government service. An out- USDA, Office of Information. U. S. Depart- more fortunate. Just another great guy. and standing authority on livestock statistics, ment of Agriculture, Washington 25, D C. we do wish printing funds permitted us to do he led in developing methods of estimating Washington employees phone 4842 or 4875 him Justice. numbers, production, and supplies of live- on editorial matters; 3185 on distribution.

V. I, SOVtRNHERT FRUITING OFFICE: IM7 — Forests: We have 75 million denuded and poorly stocked acres of forest lands that / SHARE THIS COPY should be planted to trees—one-sixth of the Nation's commercial timber land. Since 1926 only 6,483,632 acres have been planted; of these only 4,243,788 represent successful plantations today. We should do better than that. For details ask Press Service for 449; phone Ext. 6114 or write.

Transportation requests will hereafter re- quire only one, not two, of the traveler's signature. The new form is explained in General Regulation 108, November 21, 1946. No longer will you have to fret, embarrassed, APRIL 28-MAY 12, 1947 holding up the line, while you laboriously iSM fill in spaces on a form as issuing officer and again as the traveler, in order to get your ticket. Moreover the original suggestion came from a USDA worker, G. H. Gilbertson, Office of the Secretary, who was officially commended for it. invitation Brief but Important The Wheats of Classical Antiquity: A monograph issued by Johns Hopkins Press, - - THE Secretary has invited every employee of Research and Marketing Act: Various ad- under this title, was prepared by Naum the Department, field and Washington, to visory committees to assist in planning pro- Jasny, of Office of Foreign Agricultural Re- _A recommend employees for Distinguished and grams under Public Law 733, Seventy-ninth lations, and has drawn remarkably favor- Superior Service Awards. When achieve- Congress, continue to be appointed. Mem- able reviews from the best of scientific and ments are by a team, project group, or organi- bership of the deciduous fruit, rice, and technical journals. The author has worked * rj zation unit which deserves consideration for transportation committees was announced with most sparse and refractory materials, the Distinguished or Superior Service Award, March 5. Should you want details about the surmounting many difficulties. His volume and it is unfeasible to recognize particular membership of all committees appointed, is of prime interest to historians, plant geog- " individuals, recommendation should be made simply get in touch with Press Service and raphers, botanists, agronomists, and almost for the unit citation. Address these recom- ask for releases announcing appointments of anyone else in the field of agriculture. It

- . mendations to your agency nominating com- advisory committees to assist in planning forms a useful and valuable contribution to mittee. programs under the Research and Marketing knowledge about the wheat crops grown in Nominations for the Distinguished Service Act of 1946. Write, or the phone is Ext. 6114. the Mediterranean region in classical times. T" Award should be based on achievements of li\ national or very broad significance. The Solvent extraction method for cottonseed to award will be presented only for the highest oil: The staff of the Southern Regional Re- Exhibit pictures: The Bureau of Agricul- tural Industrial Chemistry issued f type of achievement in the Department's search Laboratory at New Orleans has de- and has an attractive M. P. (No. 617), entitled "Ex- fields of service. Nominations for Superior veloped a new method for solvent extraction hibit Pictures from the Four Regional Labo- Service Awards may be based on unusual or of oil from cottonseed that also removes ob- ratories." It contains photographic repro- achievements in any field of ac- jectionable seed pigments in the same meritorious of exhibits planned to illustrate operation. It provides for complete recovery ductions tivity in the Department. Consideration the progress these labs have made on proj- of purer oil, leaving a lighter colored meal should be given to ingenuity in relation to ects or way. Unique than usual, unmodified by heating, with completed under and opportunity in accomplishing the achieve- instructive, it be in short supply at promise of wide use as a source of industrial may present, but it is hoped more copies can be ment. proteins and of protein for feed. The cotton- for provided eventually. The labs themselves See Sscretary's Memorandum No. 1186 seed industry regards the development as also are depicted therein. details. Secure copies from Secretary's Rec- significant and opportune and is closely ords Section; ask your personnel officer or watching the results of pilot-plant operation 3337. (Ext. phone at the laboratory. Write, or phone Bernard A. Linden: A couple of weeks ago 6114) Press Service for 423 to get details. we stopped by Linden's South Building lab- oratory to comment on the sudden, tragic Farm-family clothing: The clothing deaths of Munchmeyer, Calvary, Linden's specialists met in Washington a while ago own supervisor, Hunter, and others in Food PMA organization changes with Extension Service and Bureau of Human and Drug Administration, when Linden re- Nutrition and Home Economics specialists; marked he was just out of the hospital and they came from 42 States and P. R. They now also had cardiac involvement. Linden ' ON March 14, Secretary's Memorandum No. concluded that American farm families want died March 9 at his home in Washington. 1118, Supplement 10, announced that, effec- better fitting, colorfast clothes that do not He was 53 and had entered the old Bureau •' immediately, the following offices and tive shrink or stretch—as don't we all? of Chemistry 37 years earlier, going with branches of Production and Marketing Ad- FDA in 1927 when it was created. He was ( ministration were abolished: Special Com- Production credit: As 1947 began, the use well known as a food bacteriologist and an modities Branch, Materials and Equipment of production credit associations by their authority on food spoilage and food poison- Branch, Office of Requirements and Alloca- farmer members started off with a bang; ing. FDA has been extremely hard hit in x ' tions, Office of Foreign Programs Coordina- 37,000 farmers borrowed 65 million dollars to recent months, most of those dying sud- tion, and Office of Price. This memorandum chalk up an increase of 16 percent in the denly having earlier been USDA employees. this " superseded the applicable portions of Secre- number of loans and 23 percent in the Linden attributed in part to intense wartime activities of the staff, in what tary's Memorandum No. 1118, as amended. amount borrowed, compared with the same proved to be our last conversation. - On the same day PMA issued administra- month last year. But though more farmers tive and organizational memoranda announc- were using their associations, those already loans did a good job of paying off ing the transfer from these agencies of such having Superior Accomplishment Awards: Pay in- what they had borrowed previously. Their functions as were to be continued. In addi- creases as rewards for superior accomplish- repayments totaled almost 42 million dollars tion, it the abolition of the ment have been awarded recently to the announced Office January, or 25 percent more than in the in following employees: Farm Credit Adminis- L/r>f Transportation Officer, as of the close of same in 1946. As February rolled month tration Ralph U. Battles; Farmers Home business March 31, its continuing functions around, the 504 production credit associa- — Administration—Julius J. Dardin, Rosalie Q. . going to the Marketing Facilities Branch the tions 148.000 loans outstanding in the had Martinez, John H. Purnell; Forest Service next day. amount of 245 million dollars. That was 6 Victor B. Gardiner, Louis H. Hagen, Jay B. percent more loans and 18 percent more Hann, Henry F. Rabb, Vernon R. Soper, Sey- money than a year earlier. How To Put Your Information Across to mour J. Johnson, Raymond G. Bell; Soil Farmers: This excellent article by Dr. Conservation Service—Roy B. Babb, Roy T. Gladys Gallup, of Extension Service, ap- 2,4-D, A Potent Growth Regulator of Tomlinson, E. Lucille Smith, Francis G. peared in Better Farming Methods for Plants: This is the title of an excellent and Meyer, Farnham F. Hutchison, Elizabeth G.

_ March. Not only readability but radio pro- fact-filled article in February Scientific Knight; Bureau of Animal Industry—Alfred grams are discussed. If you want to know Monthly by H. B. Tukey, Department of H. Juhala; Production and Marketing Admin- what farmers like to read and hear, read it. Horticulture, Michigan State College. istration —Maurice T. Harris.

739213°—47 .

Calvin Grant Church died at Los Angeles Dutch elm disease Is present or threaten- Sweetpotatoes : Studies in progress by February 27 at age 67. Church entered the ing to the entire area from central New Eng- Boyce D. Ezell. Marguerite S. Wi cox, and Deoartment in 1903 as scientific assistant in land to Chesapeake Bay, extending westward Margaret C. Hutchins, at the Plant Industry Wa'shington, D. C. He spent 6 years on sugar to central Ohio. Quite recently USDA sci- Station, Beltsville, Md., Indicate that the investigations and 4 on environmental entists have shown that DDT sprays offer a sweetpotato is about as good a source of studies of corn and cantaloups. In 1917 he promising means of protecting living and vitamin C as the tomato. Other work shows was transferred to Los Angeles where he healthy elm trees against the disease. The that, in addition, the sweetpotato is excellent spent the next 27 years at the Laboratory best and most economical spraying schedules as a source of thiamine, riboflavin, provita- of Fruit and Vegetable Chemistry. His work remain to be worked out. Communities that min A, calcium, magnesium, potassium, so- during this period was citrus (including value their elms and are willing to finance dium, phosphorus, chlorine, sulfur, iron, pro- composition, maturity, and byproducts), community spraying campaigns now have tein, and fats. And, of course, the sweet- avocados, cantaloups, sulfured fruit, and something to go on. For more detail get 508 potato surpasses even the white potato as a composition and utilization of many other from Press Service; wTite, or phone Ext. 6114. source of carbohydrates. As a school boy we fruits. He was author or coauthor of at least sorrowed over the fate of Marion and his 11 bulletins or circulars and of many articles men. on an exclusive diet of sweetpotatoes in various Journals. He took his B. S. at Your Retirement System: That's the name in Revolutionary War days—but no more. Maryland Agricultural College, his M. S. at of a booklet covering the entire operation of No wonder the redcoats found them tough George Washington University, and a year the Federal employee retirement system. customers—Marion's men. that Is, not the of postgraduate work at Johns Hopkins Uni- Civil Service Commission issued it. It costs sweetpotatoes. 10 cents It : versity. He retired on account of ill health a copy or $7.50 for 100, and may in December 1942. be purchased from administration funds. Bureaus submit purchase orders directly to P. R. school lunch: The school lunch pro- - Superintendent of Documents. gram Is a very important item in Puerto Rico, ; John M. Corliss has been appointed to head, where only half the children of school age are the Division of Gypsy Moth Control, Bureau in school, but where two-thirds of these i of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, suc- A Summary of the Grain Export Program either get wholly free lunches In school or ceeding Ralph A. Sheals. who resigned March has been issued from Production and Market- benefit at milk stations. Family income in 15. A native of New Hampshire, Corliss en- ing Administration. It covers operations to P. R. averages only about two-fifths that in tered Federal service in 1917, and has been February 1, Is dated March 5, and may be the poorest State in the Union. The pro- in charge of gypsy moth control in New Jer- had by phoning (Ext. 6114) or writing Press gram is managed by the centra: Government, sey, New York, and Pennsylvania since 1943. Service for 649. which buys and allocates the food, and pays His new headquarters are at Greenfield, the staff hired to implement it. Parents shop Mass. Sheals. who has headed this division around first to see whether their children will Nutrition in Europe: Dr. H. W. Sebrell, since 1942, now—after 30 years of Federal and get lunches; if so, then they enter them in Public Health Service, who accompanied State service in quarantine and Insect con- school! The P. R. Government contributes Herbert Hoover on his most recent survey trol work joins an industrial concern en- not 17 cents per U. S. Federal dollar, as is — of Europe, spoke on this subject In the audi- gaged in large-scale insect-control projects. required in the continental U. S., but $3 per torium in Washington, March 10. Rural dollar. Many kids taste their first milk Id better calorie people feed than urbanites; school; thousands get their only nutritious shortage is universal; weights are dawn, Arthur Greeley has become supervisor meal of the day there. One girl of 9 who W. children fail to grow, child and adult mor- of the Lassen National Forest at Susanville, had no teeth sprouted a full set after having tality rates increase, tuberculosis is wide- B. Greeley, been on school lunches a year or so. Page Calif. He Is the son of William spread. People lack muscle tone, are of Forest Service, and has been Mr. Ripley. former Chief apathetic, unable to do mental or physical f assistant in FS's Division of Timber Man- an work well. Body weights of adult mal:s agement. is a native of Washington, D. C, He average 10 pounds lighter than here. Famine Farmers Home Administration: The Pro- his father left to head the West but when FS edema (abnormal accumulation of water in gressive, a weekly published at Madison, Wis., Coast Lumberman's Association, he went the tissues) Is a real threat; causes sudden contains an article on the work of FSA-FHA with the family Seattle. graduated to He death via heart. The Infant mortality rate under the title "Democratic Planning Works," from the University of Washington, took his is 92 per thousand during the first year after pages 8 and 11 of the issue dated March 17. in 1935. master's at Tale, and entered FS birth, as against 65 in 1934—38. Pernicious anemia is very common. Nutritional anemia and vitamin-deficiency diseases like incipient Farm income: Farmers' cash receipts will A few copies are available for distribution scurvy, beriberi, and xerophthalmia are rarely run 22 percent higher during the first 4 of the following—meaning we have on hand found, despite the fact that the vitamin in- months of 1947 than in the comparable period about 75 copies of each—mentioned before take is shockingly low. Dr. Sebrell visited last year. For more details get The Farm in USDA: Buried Treasure, a mimeographed Germany, Austria, Italy, France, Belgium, and Income Situation released April 4 from Bu- talk on scientific and research methods and the Netherlands. reau of Agricultural Economics (phone 4407) publications; They Understand Not One Another's Speech, mimeographed talk on improving scientific publications; How a Fea- REA's billion: Rural Electrification Admin- All-out war on the golden nematode has ture Writer Can Avoid Making Money, and istration loans now total one billion dollars, been declared by scientists in the Bureau of Entomology Plant Quarantine. This Translating Agricultural Research into Read- made to 1,011 borrowers, Including 931 co- and alien plant pest can havoc able Newswrltlng, mimeographed talks on ops, 40 public power districts, 20 other public work in potato fields, but so far It exists here only popular scientific writing; Now They Eat bodies, and 20 power companies. Of the on 2,600 acres of Long Island potato land, its pres- Better In Taos, copy of an article on im- billion, 89 percent went for electric distribu- ence having been first suspected In 1934. proved human diets as taught in Taos tion systems, 9.6 for generation and transmis- It is a microscopic soil creature, shaped like County, N. Mex., by the old Farm Security sion facilities, and 1.4 to finance wiring and an eel, thin as a hair, one-fiftieth of an Inch Administration medical co-op there; and plumbing in the homes of consumers and for long. For more detail get 548 from Press copy of an article called "The Social Signifi- electrically operated appliances and equip- Service; write, or phone Ext. 6114. cance of Scientific Research." Write (please ment. Loans are advanced to borrowers only do not phone) T. Swann Harding, Office of as needed to make payments. Since 1935, Information, Department of Agriculture, REA borrowers have energized more than half You might want to know: That research Washington 25, D. C. a million miles of power lines serving 1.7 advisory committees for dry beans, soybeans, million rural consumers In 46 States, Alaska, peas, and flaxseed have been appointed to and Virgin Islands. As of January 1, 1947, serve in connection with the Research and Dividends from agricultural research fea- payments of $20,052,590 had been made ahead Marketing Act of 1946, No. 534; that USDA ture the annual report of the Agricultural of time, only S392.941 was more than 30 days plans for 1947 potato price supports have Research Administration. For more detail, overdue, only one foreclosure had been made, been announced. No. "542; and that the Com- get 512 from Press Service; write, or phone and $126,098,602 had been repaid. When REA modity Exchange Authority's report on the Ext. 6114, or see a copy of the report through was created In 1935, only 750,000 farms (11 October 1946 break in cotton prices, entitled your USDA Library facilities. percent of all) had power-line electricity; on "Collapse In Cotton Prices, October 1946," July 1, 1946, this had Increased to 3,106,775. has been released, and is summarized in No. or 53 percent of all. 531. Request by number from Press Service; A school in the fundamentals of peach pro- phone Ext. 6114, or write. duction, in which the Department partici- pated, was held recently in Spartanburg, S. C, Inside information: Bureau of Animal In- and made the front pages of local papers. A dustry experts on the Interior announce 50 Facts about UNRRA: This is the title copy of the Spartanburg Herald of March 5, that internal parasites reduce the value of of a sort of premature swan-song publication demonstrating this, was sent us by Oliver I. market hogs as much as 50 cents a head, via from UNRRA In which pictures talk as well Snapp. of Bureau of Entomology and Plant ultimate condemnation of parasitized livers, as words. Procure it from UNRRA's Office of Quarantine, stationed at Fort Valley. Ga. J. kidneys, casings, and other affected parts. Fublic Information, 1344 Connecticut Ave,, C. Dunegan, USDA plant pathologist at Belts- For more detail write, or phone (Ext. 6114) NW, Washington 25, D. O, If you want to find villc, also spoke. Press Service for 564. out what UNRRA Is, was, and did.

USDA: April 28~May 12, 1947 Photoperiodism: Science Digest for April How Big Is the Farm Business? We un- Soil, Humanity, and Politics Face the Atom, contains a most readable account of the ex- fortunately lack space adequately to analyze by Mark Graubard, a former member of the periments which led Henry A. Allard. retired this important and highly informative article Department's staff, is written as interestingly USDA employee, to the discovery that day by Elco L. Gresnshields. which leads off th3 and as dramatically as any novel, and is about length affected the growth habit of plants. March issue of the Agricultural Situation, a subject much more fantastic than any cre- It is entitled "Mystery of the Tropical published by Bureau of Agricultural Econ- ation of fiction. It has been printed for dis- Plants." Allard's first observation solved the nomics. Do get it and read it; Library also tribution by the Extension Service, College mystery of why Maryland Mammoth tobacco has copies. Did you know that American of Agriculture, University of Maine, Orono. would not flower around Washington—long farmers operate the largest private business Maine. days prevented that. in the world, that their plant equipment and livestock and crops on hand were worth over Foot-and-mouth fight: To June 30, 1947, 90 billion dollars last year, and that their Mexico expects to make a contribution of The Wallaces of Iowa is a book by a former 5.8 million independent establishments each covering expenses for services, employee, now editor of The Land, $9,350,000 USDA produce an average of from $2,500 to $4.00) equipment, and supplies and indemnities to Russell Lord. After many delays Houghton, worth of products annually? Did you know owners of slaughtered animals; the U. S. con- Mifflin Co. have at last published it. It that 5,000 really big farm enterprises had a tribution will be $7,500,000. Much the begins with the greatgrandfather of Henry production valued at from $100,000 to a mil- larger part of the U.S. contribution and much Agard Wallace, who came here from Scotland, lion dollars in one year? Or that the top the smaller of the Mexican will be used for but deals primarily with the activities of the third of the farms produced 80 percent of tha indemnities. Mexico pays for hogs, sheep, three Henry Wallaces of Iowa—Uncle Henry, total output? Read and learn. and goats slaughtered; the U.S. for cattle. Henry C, and Henry A. The last two were Mexico probably cannot increase its expendi- Secretaries of Agriculture; the first suggested rate; but it is agreed that the U. S. Iowa "Tama" Jim Wilson's name to President T. R. Stanton, oat expert extraordinary of ture increase its, if effective 12-month McKinley as Secretary. The book is big, Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricul- must an comprehensive, and rather expensive. tural Engineering, covers the oats sector cap- campaign against the disease is to be carried ably in the Spring issue of Land Policy Re- out properly. view (printing-fund shrinkage will prevent editor's friend, Cyril D. Heredity: The appearance of the Summer number, by the Soil and Steel, by P. Alston Waring and of London he directs the John Darlington — way) under the title, "Oat Crops in Demand; Clinton S. Golden (Harper & Bros.. N. Y.), Horticultural Institution sends the Innes — Improved Varieties." Improved varieties have is a compact book with index written by a Heredity, an International prospectus of meant 40 million dollars more annually for farmer and a city worker and dedicated to edited by him and Journal of Genetics, to be farmers in Iowa and in Minnesota, and over explaining the interdependence of farmers Fisher of Cambridge. It will ap- Ronald A. 20 millions more in Wisconsin and in Illinois. and industrial labor. It discusses such annum; orders are to be pear three times per Research dividends are enormous. See also things as natural patterns of cleavage, union- Messrs. Oliver and Boyd, Ltd., Tweed- sent to the article on Your Agricultural Statistician ism, and the relation between organized Edinburgh, and it dale Court, High Street, by W. F. Callander in the same issue of the workers and farmers, farmers and wage earn- will be addressed to botanists, zoologists, same magazine published from Bureau of ers in full employment providing an economy physiologists, medical research workers, Agricultural Economics. of abundance, and so on. On pages 96-97 social scientists, agriculturalists, and even Dan Braum, of Office of Personnel, is quoted chemists. physicists and in spots, Food and World Recovery: This is the title with approval. A bit heavy the of an excellent survey of the current world book lightens up from time to time and, if The hazy Gardener: This charming and food picture in the form of a speech by Secre- only because it provides an unusual discus- seductive book by William C. Pryor of Soil tary-General D. A. FitzGerald of the Interna- sion of a novel problem, it should have the Conservation Service (Longmans Green pub- tional Emergency Food Council, delivered in attention of USDA personnel. lished it) attracts even those to whom physi- Minneapolis, March 6. Procure it from IEFC, would have cal exertion is revolting, and who 1735 De Sales St. NW, Washington, D. C; Vegetable factory: New Jersey Farm and during the war as to gardened so poorly ask for No. 28. Garden for December 1946 told about former for not gardening. merit incentive payments Staff Sergeant Andy Sinclair's southern Jer- delightfully written, the Well-illustrated, Locker plants: About 3y million families, sey vegetable factory, which he cultivates ambles along like an en- 3 220-page volume approximately 13 million persons, are now with rich manure and cover crops, and pro- friend, giving you trancing and informative being served by frozen-food locker plants, ac- vides with an overhead irrigation system success information in spite of yourself about cording to a recent Farm Credit Administra- piped the entire length of the 1,000-foot herbs, with your lawn, raising vegetables, tion survey. Locker plants increased in num- farm. This furnishes fine spray when rain multitude of landscaping, transplanting, and ber from 4.600 in 1943 to 8,000 in 1946, and lacks and sufficient warmth when early frosts which plague industrious other problems still more are being opened as materials per- impend to maintain his growing vegetables of life. people who really get the most out mit. Many plants have 100 percent of their free from frost damage. Between early headings are engrossing Why The chapter — lockers rented plus waiting lists; 99 percent March and late November he can work in Bother Garden? Gardening in Bed, With a of all the lockers installed are rented. dandelions, spinach, and leeks, one after the Calluses, The Last Word, More How to Grow other, on the same acre. Last year he had Seasonal Planting Dates. This Last Words, a sixth-acre of endive, a quarter-acre each is Bill's first effort alone; he has always International food supply program coordi- of radishes, parsley, and broccoli, a fifth-acre collaborated before. slyly suggest nation: Secretary's Memorandum 1189, May we of string beans, a half-acre of beets, two- that he go it alone henceforth and that you March 6, designated Stanley Andrews to act fifths of cucumbers, and a full acre each of get busy and read his book, and then garden in liaison capacity between USDA and other lettuce and carrots. Hard work, correct for all that's in you! More power to USDA's and private agencies on all mat- Government planning, and a Farmers Home Administra- 1947 program. international garden ters relating to food supply tion farm-ownership loan enable Andy to programs. Get copies from Secretary's Rec- raise $1,000 cash on each of his five acres in ords Section, Plant Operations; and phone addition to the vegetables. Cheese! War Food Order 15, which went Ext. 3337, or write. Into effect February 16, 1943, to aid Govern- for military ment in procuring cheese and "Technical albumen": Did it ever occur lend-lease needs, was terminated March 24, Value of soil moisture measurements: Re- to you that some egg white always clings 1947. Approximately 1,205 million pounds of search Achievement Sheet 73 (P), procur- to the shell when you break a raw egg? Cheddar cheese were set aside under it dur- able from Dallas Burch, Agricultural Re- Fact is, about 1 to iy pounds of white is this 2 ing 1943-46. The results of program search Administration, tells how a method left in the shells of every case of eggs broken reflected of a high degree cooperation by of estimating soil moisture conditions, de- commercially. This is removed by whirling both manufacturers and assemblers. You veloped by a group of USDA scientists in dry- the shells in a centrifuge and, although un- will details in it find No. 628; get from Press land agriculture work, has been a great boon suitable for food, it has industrial \ises and Service; phone 6114, or write. to wheat growers on the Great Plains. For sells as technical albumen for adhesives, the findings enable the growers to decide paper sizing, coating for leather, and so on. whether or not to plant wheat and thus pre- remember, when the egg is cold more Big game animals: Forest Service has pub- And vent many crop failures. They also act as white than usual clings to the shell and lished the results of its big-game census on an incentive to the adoption of improved eludes the skillet. 152 national forests and finds the population practices which provide maximum water up 300 percent above 25 years ago. In some storage in the soil before seeding. The places there is now an acute housing prob- Employee loyalty: Executive Order 9835. method is applicable to more than 30 mil- lem! Deer showed the greatest increase, the issued March 21, prescribed the procedures lion acres a year. all-time peak, in 1946, being nearly 2 mil- for administration of the Federal Govern- lion; but elk, moose, antelope, and black bear ment employees' loyalty program in the Exec- populations have all gone up sharply. Only 1947 potato price support: The 1947 USDA utive Branch. You have probably seen ac- bighorn sheep decreased—from 13,000 in 1921 price support plans for potatoes were an- curate and sufficient digests of this order in to 9,000 in 1946. You will find details in No. nounced by the Department March 13; write, the newspapers, but, if you want to know 603; phone Press Service, Ext. 6114, or write or phone (Ext. 6114) Press Service, asking for more about it, consult your personnel officers in to it. No. 542 to get details. who should have copies.

USDA: April 28-May 12, 1947 D:ct and soil productivity: It Is true that Students of Sevier County, Utah, schools Dr. Maurice S. Shahan, who has been ap- the dietetic richness of plants and animals not only did admirably helping farmers har- pointed codirectcr of the Mexico City office S. Govern- is largely governed by the fertility of the vest their 1946 crops, but they produced and from which the Mexican and U. soil which produces them. It is also true, sent in to Field Service Branch of Production ments will combat foot-and-mouth disease. as Olive Sheets, of the Mississippi Agricul- and Marketing Administration a complete bat been connected with Bureau of Animal tural Experiment Station, announced re- report in full detail, replete with charts and Industry since 1926. specializing in virus re- cently that the nutritive condition of rural tables, showing what they harvested, how search since 1932. A native of Nebraska, he people is closely related to the soil produc- much they earned, how many participated graduated from Colorado A. and M. Lie tivity. Families living on poor soil can serve from each school. It was fine patriotic serv- Oscar Flores. Mexico's Under Secretary oi milk', meat, and eggs less often than those ice and it also developed ability, character, Livestock Industry, directs the office. on better soil; they also produce less of these and pin money simultaneously. Cheers! finally, they are poorer and other foods; Multiple management: Thomas R. Reid good soil. than families on (son of our Personnel Director Reid) spoke Valuable gift: A personal gift of bound and on the multiple management system at the unbound volumes of several scientific publi- March 20 meeting of the Department's key The blooming fences: If this sounds very cations have been sent by Dr. Max A. McCall. management representatives under the Man- Enrlish, it isn't meant to. Soil Conserva- assistant chief of Bureau of Plant Industry. agement Improvement and Manpower Utili- tion Service advocates blooming hedges, to the Soils, and Agricultural Engineering, zation Program. Mr. Reid. who is Director planted on contour, to act as fences. Rose College of Agriculture, University of the Phil- of Human Relations at McCormick & Co., hedges are ideal. The multiflora rose, ippines, the library of which was bombed out Baltimore, said the system, developed some properly handled, serves excellently. Such saved. by4 the Japanese, few volumes being 15 years ago by McCormick's founder, pro- hedges "conveniently and permanently mark Dr. McCall's gift is one of the invaluable kind vides for greater employee participation in contours, thev check eroding soil, after 3 or that is long remembered and endlessly use- management. All employees choose boards 4 years they 'will hold back livestock, they ful. Various divisions of his bureau are also which set to include all kinds of have natural beauty and protect birds, bene- are up sending the library duplicate reprints and workers such as senior, junior, and factory ficial insects, and small animals. Finally — other papers on agronomy, mycology, plant boards. This system hi s the rose fruits or hips are high in vitamin of management pathology, and nematology. been used successfully by 'other private in- C—they were widely used in Jelly making dustry has also been adapted effectively In England during* the war—and provide and feed for birds and animals. Oddly enough to some Government agencies. Physical research activities of the Depart- you will find "live fences" discussed in some ment were coordinated under the Agricul- of the earliest reports issued by the old De- tural Research Administrator by Secretary's Sugar Rationing Administration: Secretary partment of Agriculture when it had bureau Anderson, in Secretary's Memorandum No. status under a commissioner. Memorandum No. 1187. March 19. The Ad- ministrator was authorized and directed to 1190, March 31, established this Administra- tion, effective April 1, in the Department, to examine all current activities of all agen- carry out the functions assigned to the Sec- Writing: There seems to be cies—economic research excepted—to review On Scientific retary of Agriculture by the Sugar Control writing about and approve proposals and projects before a healthful epidemic of good Extension Act of 1947. OPA personnel were writing. latest we have seen bears initiation, to advise and consult with heads good The transferred to USDA. Irvin L. Rice, formerly title mentioned before the colon, is by of agencies concerning the planning of re- the of OPA, is Acting Administrator; Seymour William F. Ogburn of the University of Chi- search projects and programs, and to make Friedman is Deputy Administrator. Get re- cago, appears in the American Journal of reports and recommendations to the Secre- lease No. 682 for details; write, or phone for March, and merits your at- tary. Sociology Press Service (Ext. 6114). And keep your tention. Clarity, associations, referents, pic- ration book. One stamp for 10 pounds of tures and reality, emotional words, verifica- More research advisory committees: Ap- sugar became good April 1, and others for tion, fullness, accessibility, fairness, thesis, pointment of feed and of tree nuts advisory a similar amount will probably become good selection, readability, short sentences, con- committees to help develop activities au- July 1 and October 1. This sugar must do crete nouns, useless words, identification thorized by the Research and Marketing Act home canning as well as for regular home with the reader, emphasis, personal pro- for of 1946, was announced by the Department use; no stamps will be validated for home nouns, pattern, and statistics are all dis- March 20, and of the vegetable committee canning only. Each consumer will probably cussed, and possibly the author has reprints. March 26. Write, or phone (Ext. 6114) Press get 35 pounds this year, compared with 25 Service for Nos. 612 and 646 for details as to last year. Liberia: Charles E. Trout, Negro county membership and functions. Or ask for No. agent in Tuscaloosa County, Ala., has re- 658 for details of a 2-day conference held by They were not Brahmans: W. F. Dickson, l the Department and the Potato Advisory turned from 2 /2 years as agricultural ad- agricultural attache, writes clear in from the viser to the Liberlan Government. When he Committee March 24-25. American Embassy at New Delhi. India, to say went there, in 1944, the country's agricul- that our statement in the January 6 USDA. tural appropriation was $6,000 a year; for page 4, regarding the two young "Brahman" 1946 it was $40,000. There was but one Brucellosis: Dr. Alice C. Evans, now of the bulls and heifers at Ee'tsville was wrong. small experiment station in the former year: National Institute of Health but who, while Says Dickson: "Actually, these calves were there were 13 in 1946. though some were in the Dairy Division of the Bureau of Animal Red Sindhis bred at the Allahabad Agricul- discontinued in 1947 to be replaced by a Industry beginning 1910, showed the close tural Institute, Allahabad. India. This Amer- large, modern, central station. Increasing relationship between Bang's "Bacillus abor- ican institution, which was under the direc- rice supplies to overcome a cereal crisis tus" and the so-called "Micrococcus meli- tion of Dr. Sam Higginbottom, the famous was Trout's first job. Veteran field agent tensis," has an excellent review entitled agricultural missionary, for many years, is Tom Campbell recommended Trout for this "Brucellosis in the United States" in the one of the outstanding agricultural colleges assisnment. American Journal of Public Health for Feb- in India and for years has specialized in im- ruary. Evans' work demonstrated that the proving the Red Sindhis." Thanks. But disease called undulant, or that red you see is reflected from the edi- The farmers' share of the consumer's dol- human Malta, torial face. lar was 53 cents in December and January, Mediterranean fever, contracted by contact 1 cent below November and also January with infected goats, was caused by an or- \946, and 2 below the record high of 55. For ganism almost indistinguishable from that Wallace Kadderly, former head of USDA Jetails get from Bureau of Agricultural Eco- producing Bang's disease (contagious abor- Radio Service, now a radio station farm di- rector in Portland. Oreg.. has flown, with nomics the Marketing and Transportation tion or brucellosis) in cattle. The germs others, to Australia and New Zealand, at the Situation released March 19 (phone 4407). supposed, different were not, as had been of request of the Australian Broadcasting Com- genera. This was a medical discovery of the mission, to advise and consult on agricul- Domestic Dutch elm disease quarantine: first importance made in the USDA. tural radio service programming down und°r. This quarantine has been revoked, effective May 1. It was Intended to retard the spread APRIL 28-MAY 12, 1947 VOL VI, No. 9-10 of Dutch elm disease, became effective Feb- Getting to Beltsville's Agricultural Re- Center: All employees may be in- ruary 25. 1935. and was last revised October search USDA is published fortnightly for distri- that bus service is 1, 1941. The revocation notice states that terested to know now bution to employees only, by direction of controlling the movement of articles covered available from Washington. D. C. to the the Secretary of Agriculture and with the by the quarantine is an ineffectual means of Agricultural Research Center, Beltsvlllc. Md.. approval of the Director of the Budget, as preventing the spread of the disease, and leaving Greyhound Terminal at 7:15 a. m. containing administrative Information re- appropriate action by individual States can Monday to Friday inclusive, arriving at the quired for proper transaction of the public be quite as effective. The insects that carry Center Building at 7:50, leaving there at business. the disease also move considerable distances 4:40 p. m., and arriving in Washington at Address correspondence to Editor oi by natural means, and the quarantine Is im- 5:15. This will be a boon not only to workers USDA. Office of Information, D. S. Depart- potent to prevent their flight. For details at the center but also to all who have to ment of Agriculture, Washington 25, D. C. get No. 666 from Press Service; write In, or visit it occasionally, and that includes many Washington employees phone 4842 or 4879 phone Ext. 6114. field as well as Washington employees. on editorial matters: 3185 on distribution.

4 nrr **- os covEKimeiiT putHTiBc i — — THIS COPY SHARE And then there were eight . . . er six, that is: War Food Orders have vanished rapidly in recent months. Passage of the First Decon- trol and of the Sugar Control Extension Acts of 1947 left only eight: Nos. 63, 141, 7, 51, 10, 2, 71, and 78. See press release No. 700 for details; write Press Service, or phone Ext. 6114. P. S.—And ask about later actions which removed Nos. 51 and 71 from the pic- C¥im?TTJf""

// you are interested in lilies, better get JUN 9 1947 from Press Service its release No. 665 headed "New Lilies Surpass Ordinary Varieties in FOR MAY 26-JUNE 9, 1947 Size and Vigor." It tells of the work of Dr. S. L. Emsweller and others in Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering in creating new varieties, and gives a lot of background too. Write in for it, or phone Ext. 6114. naires than usual had to be sent out. Many Yes, they many bananas: If you are Crop Reporting Service of the crop reporters are veterans, and too have few new ones join up. Do everything you can interested in finding out what Gros Michel is, to stress the fundamental importance of and how many varieties of bananas there are, read Bananas of the American Tropics, in PEW OF US ever stop to consider the funda- this activity, the great public service patri- Agriculture in the Americas for April-May mental importance of that Department ac- otically performed by the voluntary crop re- 1947. The article is by Dale E. Farringer. tivity which began even before there was a porters, and to induce recruits to join up. And don't miss Mary S. Coiner's capsule dis- Department. For, while the Crop Reporting cussion of the papaya on the inside back Service was made a formal function after the cover either. Department was founded in 1862, hundreds of farmers had for many years been volun- Brief but important teering information to the Agricultural Di- Rich forest dividends : The national forests paid a 1946 dividend of $3,424,430 to 653 coun- vision of the Patent Office regarding crop Do you like information packed in? We should ties in the U.S., Alaska, and Puerto Rico, conditions in their localities. very much like to hear from readers everywhere on acreage. Total Farmers claimed they had much less in- this question. Do you prefer a USDA packed with which include national-forest is cash receipts from operation of the national formation about the volume of production information in small type, as the current issue a method to which we resorted when printing- forests amounted to $13,875,071 in fiscal year than the people who bought their products. fund shortages browned us out? Do you think 1946. The law distributes a certain percent- They needed impartial estimates of crop and USDA should regularly contain a great many age of this sum to the States, to be appor- the growing and more Brief But Important items? Would you pre- livestock production during tioned among the counties. For details write fer them classified, or do you just like to amble marketing seasons to fortify their bargaining Service for 279. along, as so many do, from subject to subject? or phone (6114) Press position. For many years now the Crop Re- Take down your hair, if any, and indict an epistle porting Service has gotten an invaluable body to the editor. of basic information by mail from a cross Newton's apple: An item in Cornell Planta- Bristow section of farmers who, voluntarily, unpaid, tions, the little quarterly Adams electric energy purchased : Rural Elec- the apple which guided and with marked pride, serve as crop re- Peak edits, informs us that trification Administration reports that the Sir Isaac to the discovery of the basic porters! Newton rural electric systems it financed purchased law of gravity fell on his head, as he walked "Since 1914 there has been an agricultural an all-time high of 2,367,780,748 kilowatt- in his garden at Woolsthorpe in Lincolnshire, statistician serving each State and who in hours of electric energy for distribution to from a Flower of Kent tree. This bears an recent years has been a representative of the consumers during the fiscal year ended June old-fashioned, almost extinct cooking apple of Agricultural Economics where the Bureau 30, 1946. Ask Press Service for No. 673 to get with an October to January season, and its heads in Washington.. The reporting up details; write in, or telephone Ext. 6114. direct descendants are still known and Crop Reporting Board was established in 1905 cherished. to review State and to issue national reports and, in 1912, it began making preharvest fore- Beetle with the Fringe on Top: This is the casts. The present-day system of livestock title of an article in the May issue of Science Praise where praise is due: The work of a reporting via unaddressed cards, which rural Digest, which discusses the work done by county administrative officer under the Agri- mail carriers leave at random along their our Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quaran- cultural Conservation Program is right on Gulfport, ob- routes, began in 1922. tine in and around Miss., as the firing line, where complaints are more served editor field trip Today about 500 reports are issued annu- by the of USDA on a customary than praise. Therefore it is worth in those dear dead days when field trips were one of these workers receives ally covering, among other things, acreages comment when possible. The Toronto Star republished. written commendation from an absentee for 109 crops, condition of crops, pasture, landowner. In Kiowa County, Okla., Admin- production, and yields per acre for 136 crops, istrative Officer W. I. George recently received number of livestock and poultry farms, Research Committee: This is yet on Sugar a letter of appreciation for assistance ren- advisory and a dozen other matters of basic interest another of the many commodity dered the Agricultural Conservation Program committees which will help in develop- to farmers, extension workers, railroads, USDA toward constructing a dam for the storage plans projects the Research manufacturers, buyers of farm products, in- ing and under of water for livestock, which was made possi- and Marketing Act of 1946. Get No. 699 from surance agencies, banks, investors, credit ble through the services of the county office. Press Service for details; write in, or phone agencies, exchanges, and various national and It said in part: "If every Administrator was Ext. 6114. Other recent press releases cover- international groups. as cooperative and helpful as your office, he The importance of this activity cannot be ing appointments of other committees are as should be much more successful in interest- follows: beans, too greatly stressed. If you want details, Feed, tree nuts, 612; dry peas, ing landowners of the absolute necessity for soybeans, flaxseed, grain, peanuts, seeds, get from Economic Information, Bureau of 534; both proper drainage and soil conservation. 630; vegetable, 646; poultry, 796. Agricultural Economics (phone 4407) its I wish to thank you and your County Com- mimeographed (December 1946) document mittee for your fair treatment and the desire on the BAE Statistical Program. Reports Florida loused up: A very serious problem evidenced to cooperate." regularly come in from 600,000 farmers, 83,000 has developed in Florida as a result of entry local merchants, 11,000 ginners, 14,000 mills, of the African cattle louse, previously known Momentum: If you want something done, elevators, and warehouses, 10,000 hatcheries, to occur only in the vicinity of the Came- ask a really busy person to do it really busy, county tax assessors in 32 States, 28.000 dairy roons, West Africa, and first discovered only that is, not one who goes around all the time manufacturing and milk plants, 22,000 meat in 1915. USDA entomologists apprehended telling others how swamped he is—spends so packers and slaughterers, 13,000 seed dealers it in Florida in 1945—more recently in much time at that he has very little left to and shippers—and about 100,000 personal Texas—and it has spread to a number of do his work. The more you do, the more interviews. counties in the former State. The louse you can do; the smaller the chinks in be- And another thing: During World War n glues its eggs to the tails of cattle; some tween jobs, the easier you fill them with ad- farmers were so surfeited with the variety of call it the "tail louse." Sprays containing ditional accomplishments. As you gradually wartime forms and questionnaires they had 1.5 percent (not less) of DDT in wettable overcome inertia, you work up a momentum to fill out that many of them neglected their powder form give good control, iy2 pints per that carries you through to ever higher pro- crop-reporting forms. Far fewer returns animal, the whole animal being sprayed, not duction. Very busy people can always do a than normal came in, so far more question- just the tail. little more and can do it quickly. 742908°—47 — '

Noted through spectacles: C. R. Elder, well- Textile fibers: The International Wool Walter B. Bigelow, Assistant Chief of Rural known extension worker of Iowa State Col- Study Group, which met in London March 31, Electrification Administration's Engineering lege, explains What Atomic Research Means issued a statement which you will find in Division, was, on March 28, honored with < Electri- ' to Farmers in the lead article of April Farm press release No. 723, dated April 3 . . . On election in the American Institute of Journal, and Vernon Vine, former Farm the same day the Commodity Exchange Com- cal Engineers to the rank of Fellow, the high- Credit Administration information man, fol- mission, composed of the Secretaries of est given by the institute, placing him among lows him immediately asking the reader to Agriculture and of Commerce, and the At- the 4 percent of the institute's more than", keep his eye on the West where big things torney General, reduced the limit on specu- 23,000 members who have received such rec- I are hanpening. To "atomic scientist" Elder lative positions In cotton futures. The ognition. Mr. Bigelow has been with REA and "westerner" Vine our congratulations. Commodity Exchange Authority will enforce since June 1936. and has been assistant chief this regulation. Details are in No. 716. Get of the division since January 1946. During these from Press Service; write, or phone Ext. this service and prior to his association with More scientific public relations: C. F. Ket- 6114. REA, he has made outstanding contributions Associa- tering, in addressing the American to the advancement of rural electrification. - recently, f tion for the Advancement of Science Cheese choosing: If you are interested in He is a native of Kansas and a graduate of \ said: "Science Is not fully advanced when cheese, you have more varieties from which Kansas State College. be a the discoveries are made. There must to choose than for some time in the past. follow-through from the conception of the The cheese experts have been busy learning USDA Clubs: Improving Department Serv- the idea to the experiment, to the device, to new and better methods of cheese making, ices to the Public Through USDA Clubs was for product. It is often Just as important and the Bureau of Dairy Industry has taken the subject of the Training Council meeting, the businessman, the lawmaker, and the a big part in the fundamental research. March 27, at which E. R. Draheim and Direc- discoveries in the general public to know of This is by way of getting you to read the ar- tor Reid, of Personnel, and William A. Minor. scientists field of science as it is for other ticle, When You Choose Cheese, in Consum- Assistant to the Secretary, spoke. For a must to know of the technical details. We ers' Guide for April, which also contains summary of what was said, or for informa- make the results of science available to all pointers on sheets, information about herbs, tion about forming or operating a USD.V in people of the world in facts and not and an understandable discussion of the Club, address Dr. E. R. Draheim, Office of prophecy. little more scientific public re- Personnel. Department of Agriculture, Wash- A Agricultural Research and Marketing Act of , criticism regula- lations would forestall and 1946. This is a monthly magazine of limited ington 25, D. C. furthest tion. Science will be advanced free distribution. 50 cents a year by subscrip- are better when its results and problems tion; address it in the Office of Information, Virgil R. Hassler has left Press Service."' known and understood." USDA, Washington 25, D. C. Office of Information, to Join Agricultural

Advertising and Research. Richmond, Va . Award to colored home agent: The coveted where he is associated with John Babcock," U More chemotherapy: Joseph Naghskl, leader. Mr. Algernon Sydney Sullivan Award, given by son of H. E., New York farm | Michael L. Copley, and James F. Couch, of Sweet Briar, notable Virginia women's col- Hassler was with USDA before the war; dur- ^ I Laboratory, ' the Eastern Regional Research ing it he was the associate editor of All lege—usually to a member of its faculty have recently discovered that quercetin, a Hands, the Navy magazine. byproduct of the black-oak-bark tanning was this year conferred upon Rachel R. Car- procedure, possesses rather remarkable anti- ter, home-demonstration agent in Amherst County. Miss C. M. Evans has received the 1946 Certifi- biotic properties, on the acid side of neutral- Va. Carter is one of only two nonfaculty-member recipients in the 14 years cate of Merit awarded annually by the Dal- ity, but shows negligible activity on the during which the award has been given. las USDA Club for meritorious work. A vet- alkaline side. This activity is lost in the a eran of a quarter century's service, he has Quercetin is a She has served quarter of a century as J presence of serum or iron. served for the past 3 years as Southwest Area yellow dye that appears when quercitron, the home demonstration agent, and made out- p Dairy Branch, Production \ standing contributions recently to the relief Representative, yellow coloring matter of black oak bark, Is Administration, but he oper- of starvation in Europe through her re- and Marketing broken down with acid. It also occurs on ates a purebred poultry, livestock, and dairy similar treatment of rutin, Couch's special markably successful community-canning farm in off hours. Active in USDA Club . discovery for capillary fragility. In both in- program. - work, he was responsible for the successful 1 stances the very rare sugar rhamnose (a sponsorship of the Sister Kenny Fund in all Virus-Serum Act: A recent, and rare, con- methylpentose, with which ye editor flirted Dallas USDA agencies: he is prominent in the viction i around years ago in the lab) also puts in its under the Federal Virus-Serum-Toxin activities of the Dallas Aericulture Club, appearance! Act, serves to turn our notice to this piece the Texas State Fair, and the Texas State of legislation, administered by the Bureau Agricultural Council. of Animal Industry, which is aimed at the Tom Campbell, of Extension Service, is maintenance of high-quality veterinary bio- the book. featured in an article entitled "From Illiter- Joseph Cannon Bailey, author of logical products. In this Instance the of American acy to Fame" in the Spring issue of Oppor- Seaman A. Knapo. Schoolmaster Aurora Serum Co., and Logan B. Huff, of recently. tunity; Louis Brackeen. of Alabama exten- Agriculture, spoke twice in USDA Aurora, 111., were convicted and fined because officially associated with our ex-- sion staff, wrote the piece. Knapp was of an interstate shipment of a worthless hog- tension work only 7 years, but the greater cholera serum, which had not been prepared part of his previous 70 had been spent under- United States-FAO Inter-Agency Commit- under U.S. veterinary license, in compliance going a long series of experiences in admin- tee: Membership in this committee consists with regulations prescribed by the Secretary istering a great variety of undertakings of representatives from the Departments of of Agriculture, and which was falsely labeled which prepared him to spend the 7 most Agriculture, State, Commerce, Labor, and to Indicate that it had been so prepared. profitably. Always facing new situations. Interior, Treasury Department. Bureau of Thus BAI protects livestock owners from Knapp was fully prepared to have life begin the Budget, and Federal Security Agency. worthless or undependable biological prod- again at 70. The Department of Agriculture members ucts intended for the treatment of diseased are Under Secretary Dodd (also chairman of domestic animals. Farm housing: The Housing and Household ~ the whole committee). Director Wheeler of Equipment Division, of Bureau of Human Agricultural (also vice Economics, is doing Foreign Relations That apple pic: Maybe you thought "she" Nutrition and Home the committee) , A. Minor of under the leadership of Leo--'\ chairman of W. couldn't make good apple pie because she excellent work the Secretary's Office, Agricultural Research nore E. Sater. and prepares to do much more wasn't a good cook, but maybe it wasn't that Administrator Lambert, Chief Wells of the under provisions of the Research and Mar- . way at all. The Eastern Regional Research Bureau of Agricultural Economics. Adminis- keting Act of 1946. It is Intensely interest- Laboratory reminds us that firm varieties of trator Gilmer of Production and Marketing ing to visit the work at Beltsville and to find apples, which hold their shape in baking and Administration, and Chief Watts of Forest out how little we really know, and how much attractive pies, usually have less flavor Service. Duncan Wall of FAR is secretary to make we have vet to find out, even regarding such since firm- the committee. than the softer, Juicier apples, subjects of the best cooking-utensil kits and ness wins out over flavor, and Mcintosh, farm kitchen cabinets, much less about de- l Gravensteln, and other fine-flavored varieties signing and building houses adapted to The Federal Government's publication and tend not to appear in pies. Apple slices human functioning. in formation poliCji, with special reference to must be firm in texture and high in flavor USDA, is treated very objectively In Ovid A. to be ideal, and the laboratory scientists have Brief History of the Department: Con- Martin's article In Nation's Business for found out that the use of small quantities densed Historv of the USDA, USDA Document < April. It boars the title, "Someone Asked of calcium chloride will impart firmness. Just No. 4. has "been revised recently. This Th.--m To Do It." with an explanatory sub- as It does to tomatoes used for canning. formed the basis for a talk the editor of _, "Cutting the Government's Costly In- Then the slices remain firm when frozen, USDA gave before many USDA Clubs all over formation Setup Isn't Easy. Every Job canned, or made Into pie and baked. Get the U.S., and also is used frequently as an Meets Somebody's Needs." for details; phone talk for new employees in Wash- No. 727 from Press Service orientation «J Ext. 6114 or Just write in. The treatment ington. It has merely been simplified and Focd up to date. If you want copies, The lfi-17 Garden Program Fact Sheet, a cannot be used commercially until brought T. Swann Harding, Office of Infor-'' 1-oage affair, was Issued by the Department and Drug Administration regulations are to Washington 25. D. C. during March. amended, matlon. USDA,

USDA: May 26-June 9, 1947 The President, Pigs can't sweat either: A while back we Arbor Day is now 75 years old and was National Farm Safety Week: issued April 2, designated got involved in the nonsweating propensities celebrated April 22—the originator's birth- by Proclamation the commencing July 20 as National of dairy cows. Hogs, having no sweat day—in Nebraska, where it originated. The week spearhead to a year- glands, might die at temperatures of 100° P. father of Arbor Day was Julius Sterling Farm Safety Week, as a increasing without moisture, though they can with- Morton, a man of strong independent views round farm safety program. The under complexity of modern farm operations con- stand 119°, if there is ample moisture on the who became Secretary of Agriculture and tinually creates additional accident hazards, floor. The Division of Farm Buildings and President Cleveland, March 7, 1893, accidents occur in agriculture Rural Housing, Bureau of Plant Industry, served 4 years less 2 days. President Bu- and more fatal than in any other occupation. All rural Soils, and Agricultural Engineering, at Belts- chanan had made him Secretary of Nebraska to people are urged to set aside a specific time ville, Md., and the recently completed Animal Territory in 1858. (If you want know Psychroenergetic Laboratory, at Columbia, more about all who have headed Federal during this week for family discussions of farm-accident prevention. Mo., have under way many basic research agricultural work since it started, write the projects in their field. Animal metabolism editor of USDA and ask for Document No. in Writing: This is a single and heat and moisture production under or- 9.) Today tree planting is big business. Bad Stuff mimeographed sheet by Edwin H. Larson, of dinary farm conditions will be measured, as Forest Service and State forestry agencies our Northeastern Forest Experiment Station. will the requirements of poultry under vari- cooperate in producing and distributing The discussion is continued by Editor Robert ous lighting conditions. These studies are hundreds of millions of seedlings for the pur- T. Hall, of the Division of Information and new in establishing facts on the basis of pose. Arbor Day is celebrated during April Education, Forest Service, under the title actual barn or pen environment. in most States, but some range from Novem- ber in Hawaii to May in Maine. The Ne- "Good Stuff and Bad Stuff in Writing." If we may coin a cliche, they are both good Program: Wallace braska City celebration was especially nota- Housing Publications stuff. The editor of USDA has about 50 Build- ble this year. Ashby, Chief of the Division of Farm copies each; first come, first served. Write, Plant of ings and Rural Housing, Bureau of please do not telephone, T. Swann Harding, Engineer- a Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Thomas E. (Tom) Howard is author of Office of Information, Department of Agri- housing have ing, says 18 publications on new and important agricultural book pub- culture, Washington 25, D. C. been planned and some are about ready for lished by the National Catholic Rural Life publication, but most are in various stages Conference, the outgrowth of many years of Leonard A. Maynard, former director of the avail- of preparation and probably will not be experience in the field of agricultural rela- U.S. Regional Plant, Soil, and Nutrition for able for many months. All are intended tions, both as an official of general-farm or- Laboratory at Ithaca. N. Y., has a thought- for easy lay reading and are being written ganizations and, since early 1933, as an provoking article in Science for April 18, en- understanding. M. P. 622, Your Farmhouse: employee of the AAA. For 10 years Mr. titled "A Chemist's View of Nutrition." Cut-Outs to Help in Planning (25 cents), Howard worked out of Washington head- and M. P. 619, Your Farmhouse: How quarters but, as transportation problems be- Conserving hay protein: You will find to Plan Remodeling (15 cents), are in came more acute during the war, he methods of reducing protein losses in hay so press at this writing; to get them, send the transferred to Denver, Colo. The book is as to provide better silage for winter use of money direct to the Superintendent of Docu- entitled "Agricultural Handbook for Rural dairy cows in No. 838; procure from Press ments, Government Printing Office, Washing- Pastors and Laymen." It offers source ma- Service by phoning Ext. 6114, or writing in. ton 25, D. C. Others to come discuss planning terial for all who want to see rural people It represents cooperative work by our Bu- the bathroom; insulation weatherproofing; anchored prosperously and happily to the reaus of Dairy Industry and of Plant Indus- planning kitchens and workrooms, bedrooms, land they till. The book is well indexed. try, Soils, and. Agricultural Engineering. living rooms, and new farmhouses; principles Copies are in our Department libraries. More of good construction, heating, farm plumb- information may be procured from Mr. How- Julian E. Rothery, a timber -management ing, and home-built kitchen cabinets; farm- ard, 963 Logan St., Denver, Colo. expert who entered Forest Service in July of stead planning; landscaping; catalog 1908, retired May 1. He was in private em- house plans; and financing the farm home. Children's friend and confidant: We submit ployment from 1913 to 1935, when he re- This covers the full series as to subject mat- as evidence that everybody, even the chil- entered FS, where he won international ter; look for actual names and how to get dren, feels that the Department of Agricul- repute for his pioneering work in forest copies later when all bulletins became avail- ture is a traditional old friend in whom they valuation, timber appraisal, and explorations able. The series is being done cooperatively should confide, this letter to the Department and mapping surveys in remote areas. A by PISAE, Bureau of Human Nutrition and from Betty Ann out in a South Dakota vil- native of Massachusetts and a Yale graduate, Home Economics, and some other agencies. lage: "Dear Sirs—Is it fine out there? Rothery organized the forestry course at Grandpa said it was like spring. It isn't very Utah Agricultural College, and was super- nice out here. There is still snow on the visor the old National Forest The Race Is to the Ready: This is the title of Idaho when ground. I have all my clothes for easter of it was wilderness. This early ex- of a talk the Secretary gave in Oklahoma most except my shoes. I am going to have every- perience provided material for 5. is an excellent statement of him many City, April It thing red but my shoes. They are going to the soil-conservation doctrine and of what magazine articles. He now makes his home be blcck. Love. Betty Ann." at Cotuit, Cape Cod. the Department is doing, with the aid of Soil Conservation Service and the Agricul- Plant growth: Donald F. Jones, of Connec- Japan: following left April 19 for tural Conservation Program, to build U.S. To The ticut Agricultural Experiment Station, has 60-day assignments with the U.S. occupation soil and halt further erosion. If you want to an interesting note on the growth of maize, forces and the Japanese Ministry of Agri- read it, ask Press Service for No. 674 by writ- in Science for April 11 (pp. 390-91). Maize culture and Forestry Librarian Ralph Shaw, ing in or by phoning Ext. 6114. — grown under tobacco shade cloth is taller to assist in establishing a technical library and has broader leaves than plants from for the Ministry: Associate Director of In- Program: Cooperative Fire-Prevention Ap- the same lot of seed grown in full sunlight; formation R. L. Webster, to assist in estab- further point yourself a committee of 10 to temperature is the same, but humidity is lishing for the Ministry an information serv- all forest this program. Ninety percent of higher and light intensity lower under the ice to distribute current technical data and fires are caused by the plain carelessness of cloth. The same effect can be produced in programs to Japanese farmers; and Assist- thoughtless people. In 1946 there were 575 the field by growing short-stalked varieties ant Director Kenneth A. Butler, Labor forest, wood, and range fires daily, costing in the shade of tall-stalked. The tempera- Branch, Production and Marketing Adminis- timber not us 30 million dollars' worth of — ture during the early stages of growth seri- tration, to assist the Ministry in the estab- to mention much rich grazing land and ously affects later growth; heat-treated seed- lishment of a budgetary control system. thousands of animals—enough to build 215,- lings are shorter, less vigorous, and later million 000 five-room houses, or to make 90 flowering than untreated plants, after being Pasture renovation: If interested in the newsprint. railroad ties, or 5 million tons of set in the field; also there is pollen sterility renovation of old established orchard grass This year forests must yield us 37 billion in all treated lots. and bluegrass sods of better-than-average other uses, feet of lumber for homes and production, through surface tillage, fertili- ties, mil- 20 million hewn railroad cross 18 Milton S. Eisenhower, well known to TJSDA zation, and reseeding with good grass and plastics, lion cords of pulpwood for paper and and now President of Kansas State, has been legumes, phone (Ext. 6114) or write to Press telegraph, and and 6 million electric power, elected to succeed Archibald MacLeish as a Service asking for release No. 762. telephone poles. Fight forest fires unceas- member of the executive council of the ingly and relentlessly. United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Fungus stimulates flow of turpentine gum: Cultural Organization; he has been head of Dr. George E. Hepting, of the Division of

Dr. R. W. Trullinger , Chief of the Office of the UNESCO National Commission in the Forest Pathology, Bureau of Plant Industry. Experiment Stations, has been appointed as U.S. A member of the U.S. delegation to the Soils, and Agricultural Engineering, an- an Assistant Administrator of the Agricul- general conference of UNESCO in Paris, nounced recently that Fusarium lateritium, tural Research Administration. He will con- Eisenhower assumed his new office May 1. which he discovered on hard pines near tinue as Chief of OES, but the arrangement Asheville, N. C, in 1944, seems to stimulate will bring this office into closer contact with The World Grows Round My Door, a new the flow of gum in turpentine pines. Fungus the over-all planning of USDA's research. book by Dr. David Fairchild, famous plant treatment of wounds in pine-tree trunks Dr. Trullinger will work closely with Admin- explorer, may be procured from the Fair- prolonged the flow of gum without damage istrator W. V. Lambert and Assistant Admin- child Tropical Gardens, Box 407, Coconut to the trees. Pretty soon the turpentiners istrator Byron T. Shaw, of APA. Grove, Fla. may have a cute little fungus helpmate.

USDA: May 2&-June 9, 1947 — .

Environment and food intake: Work re- Reading matter of interest: If your agency, Leslie's puffer train: Last December 1, . 7-year-old Kent, England, ported in Science for April 11, from the division, section, or laboratory at any time Leslie Freeman, of j Harvard Fatigue Laboratory, indicates that, gets out mimeographed or otherwise proc- took his pencil in hand to wish the entire • regardless of environment—whether Arctic, essed material which you think would be of U.S. a Merry Christmas, writing in a big..: subarctic. Temperate, or tropical—human interest to USDA "employees elsewhere, vigorous, childish hand. In the course of beings choose just about the same percent- please, If possible, remember the editor of his letter, addressed to the "Food Minister. age of protein in their diets; even in the USDA with about 50 copies so that it can be New York. America," he confessed a desire Tropics the protein and fat intake natu- offered to others through the columns of the for a "puffer train." His letter. In some in- rally chosen is high by traditional criteria. house organ. If uncertain about how valu- scrutable way. reached Chester A. Hainan, of Caloric intake, however, tends to average able the material might be, forward a copy Production and Marketing Administration's 4.400 in an Arctic environment, 3,850 in to the editor for examination and he'll write Field Service Branch, New York. The office Temperate Zone, and 3,300 in the Tropics. you. Just address Editor of USDA, Office of took up a collection, purchased a fine elec- Information, Department of Agriculture, tric train and tracks, and winged it to Leslie,

Visitors: C. C. Parrington returned from Washington 25, D. C. somewhat behind a letter announcing Its ... London In mid-April where he had been a forthcoming arrival. And. in due time, came USDA visitor at the conference there to Delayed effects of rationing: The Medical animated letters of thanks from Leslie and draft a proposed international wheat agree- Officer, a London periodical, discussed some his mother, and a clipping from the London ment: he is Assistant Administrator of Pro- delayed effects of food rationing in its March Evening Standard showing Leslie and his duction and Marketing Administration for 29 issue. The worst wartime shortage was two brothers examining the train. A little of first-class protein, this scarcity still outside official line of duty, this sort of thing the Commodity Credit Corporation. . . . and O. T. Norris, of Sussex. England, vice chair- continues and engenders an "easily tired" goes far to cement stable and more pleasant man of the Young Farmers Organization of feeling. School children of the United international relations. the U.K., recently visited the Department Kingdom are appreciably thinner and then- and told various groups and individuals general nutrition is not so good as before Elements of Soil Conservation: This is the about the young farmers' activities in Eng- the war. Cod-liver oil and malt were issued title of a new book by the Nation's leading' land and "wales. The organization, pat- in large quantities to prevent these condi- soil conservationist and Chief of Soil Con- terned after our 4-H Clubs, was founded in tions, but did not wholly do so. Minor de- servation Service, Hugh Hammond Bennett. U.K. about a quarter of a century ago. The fects, skin trouble, especially "spots," are This textbook is one of the McGraw-Hill se- organization is sponsored by the Ministries more frequent now, and It is concluded that ries in geography. The technical informa- of Education and of Agriculture, and the the long years of food rationing are now tion is in language easy to understand. young farmers work closely with the British having a definite though long-delayed ill Questions for students and bibliographical County Agricultural Advisory Service. effect. references are Included in each chapter. At the end of the book are a list of visual aids

: and an index. chapter. National Pro- New plant food facts: The scientists at Bartt boo: Bamboo flow ers are decidedly un- One A gram of Soil Conservation, discusses the soil Plant Industry Station, Beltsville, Md.. re- common. They turn up something like conservation work of cently entertained some 50 representatives of once a half century and are usually pale SCS and other USDA agencies, and also of other Government and the fertilizer industry. At the time they dis- green and relatively Inconspicuous. Bamboo State agencies. Get this book, which is well closed findings about a slow-acting nitrogen seed also is a rare commodity, hence the big worth reading and using, from the fertilizer called Uraform so far produced on grass Is normally propagated by dividing old USDA Libr try or your bookstore. laboratory scale only—a combination of urea clumps. When the Federal Experiment Sta- and formaldehyde, which is superior to natu- tion at Mayaguez, P. R., had a good set of Top PMA appointments: On April 24. the ral organics. It slowly parts with its nitro- bamboo seed in 1945 and 1946, many were Secretary announced the appointments of gen over a long growing period. It does not used to test methods of storing and planting. Dave Davidson, former director of the Field leach out of the soil easily. It seems espe- Since fruiting and flowering occur only in Service Branch, as Assistant Administrator cially adapted for use with corn, potatoes, plants from 20 to 80 years of age, few have for Production. Production and Marketing and tobacco crops which usually need addi- had experience in handling the seed. Bam- — Administration, and of Claudius B. Hodges, tional fertilizer after planting. Its delayed boo seeds resemble oats, do not seem to be formerly deputy director of FSB. as his Dep- action gives It good prospects for lawn and long-lived, and, if they must be stored, stor- uty Assistant Administrator; also of Carl C. turf use. It can be used in mixed fertilizer age should be dry and cool, but it is best Farrington as Assistant Administrator in and is unaffected by moisture absorption. to plant them quickly. PMA for the Commodity Credit Corporation. Bu f it must wait awhile, as both its constitu- They will work with Administrator Gilmer ents are in short supply just now. Uraform Arthur J. G. Illian, formerly Assistant Su- andDeputy Administrator Trieg In over-all was a mere high light in an all-day confer- pervisor of the New York office of the Com- integration and direction of PMA's programs ence which provided the visitors with much modity Exchange Authority, died suddenly and services. Messrs. Davidson and Farring- else of interest. on March 26. Mr. Illian was a leader in the ton are well known to Washington USDA USDA Club of New York, and was active dur- workers; Mr. Hodges is a native of Texas who ing the war and after in the Treasury's bond- Tillage: The work of the Department's served from 1942 to 1946 as food distribution selling campaigns. Mr. Illian joined CEA in Tillage Machinery Laboratory at Auburn, administrator in the Texas State Office, for- 1941. Prior to that he was a partner in the Ala., is the subject of an illustrated article mer Office of Supply, and who assumed his futures commission firm of Winthrop. in the May issue of Federal Science Prog- position as deputy director of FSB in Wash- Mitchell, and Co., with offices in New York ress. Office of Technical Services, Department ington during April 1946. A PMA Assistant and Chicago. He loved and hugely enjoyed of Commerce. This is a unique laboratory, Administrator for Marketing remains to be life and people, making him a charming com- the only one of its kind in the world, and appointed. On April 2£ the Secretary an- it, probably, panion and a delightful friend. you should know more about nounced the appointment of M. J. Hudtloff Progress than you do. Federal Science was as Comptroller for both CCC and PMA. with discontinued with the June issue. Dr. H. L. Hatter, formerly Assistant Leader technical authority and responsibility over of the Division of Insecticide Investigations, all their fiscal affairs in Washington and in of Entomology and Plant Quarantine. Abridged Chronology of Agriculture's Part Bureau the field. in the War: Our USDA Document of this ti- has been appointed assistant to the Chief of this Bureau. world authority on or- tle has been carefully checked in Bureau of A The demand for this house organ exceeds the Agricultural Economics to remove errors and ganic chemistry. Dr. Haller has been with supply: Do you know of any office, laboratory, or other bugs, and to get it in final shape for the Department since 1929. Born in Ohio. afrency which now frets too many copies of USDA, you and posterity. It will not reappear after he Is a graduate of the University of Cincin- or which could dispense with some by sharintr still Field workers wrile Mr«. copies in hand are exhausted. It is simply nati and of Columbia. The Hillebrand prize further? If you do: Monica T. Crocker, Office of Personnel, Depart- a list in chronological order of actions taken of the Washington Chemical Society for 1932 ment of Agriculture. Washington 25, D. ('.. who by. administrative changes made in. ac- was awarded Jointly to him and Dr. L. B. and attend? to the distribution of USDA; Washington tivities of the Adminis- LaForge for outstanding research in the de- * USDA and War Food workers telephone her on Ext. 3 1 "> tration in World War n. helpful to have as termination of the chemical structure of a sort of date-list reference to past events. rotenone. one of the most important of the Write (please do not phone) for copies, ad- organic insecticides. His work in the chem- May 26-June 9, 1947 Vol. VI, No. 11-12 dressing editor of VSDA, Office of Informa- istry of DDT and other insecticides, which tion. Department of Agriculture, Washing- were used by the armed forces during World USDA is published fortnightly for distri- ton 25, D. C. War n. is well known. Dr. Haller will main- bution to employees only, by direction of tain contacts with work in the chemical field the Secretary of Agriculture and with the Director of the Budget, as FHA's fie'd men: Farmers Home Adminis- both inside and outside EPQ. approval of the administrative information re- tration havinc abolished regional offices and containing transaction of the public officials, its 40 State directors will now be Long-Range Agricultural Policy: This is quired for proper assisted in administrative work by 12 field an important basic policy statement the Sec- business. to of USDA. men who will travel almost constantly be- retary made April 21 at the opening of hear- Address correspondence Editor Department of tween Washington and their assigned field ings of the House Committee on Agriculture Office of Information, U. S. Washing- 'errltorles. Ask FHA for information about regarding long-range agricultural policies Agriculture. Washington 25, D. C. who they are and the States constituting and programs. Write to Press Service, or ton employees phone 4842 or 4875 on editorial 3185 on distribution. r assignments. phone Ext. 6114, for No. 851. matters;

o. i. soncumtm ranrrmt officii h«7 — —

Farm labor: On April 28 the President ap- ' THIS COPY proved H. R. 2102, an act (Public Law 40, 80th SHARE Cong.) which authorizes extension of the farm-labor supply program through Decem- n ber 31. 1947, but requires it to be liquidated 30 days thereafter. The Second Deficiency Appropriation Bill provides 5 million dollars to complete and liquidate the program. Re- sponsibility for the farm labor supply was given to Extension Service January 25, 1943. An article entitled "It came like a bolt from the blue," in Extension Service Review for July, describes this program. Clara Bailey Ackerman is editor of the Review.

The Fermentation Division, Northern Re- gional Research Laboratory, simply can't seem to retain its top men. Now Dr. A. F. Langlykke, who succeeded Dr. R. G. Coghill as the Division's head when the latter resigned in 1945, has himself resigned to become head of microbiological development at Squibb possibly a method will appear soon making it Institute, New Brunswick, N. J. The loss of possible to cover an acre with a quart solution this outstanding fermentologist will be felt Miraculous scien severely of 2,4-D! —and you know why they leave for better pastures without us telling you. "hormones" are not poisonous; they VISITS to the Plant Industry Station, at The They're good. simply entire physiological proc- Beltsville, make the visitor regret what he upset the ess of plant growth. Already corn can be has missed. Even an all-day visit enables Departmental Loyalty Board: Secretary's planted among weeds and grass, fertilizer him to snatch but paltry fragments of the Memorandum No. 1191, April 25, announced applied, then, in 4 or 5 days, diesel oil used richness that is there. It is fascinating to the appointment of a departmental loyalty to kill the other growth and permit the corn hear J. W. Mitchell discussing growth regu- board, pursuant to Executive Order 9835, grow. In there be a machine lators, L. W. Kephart expatiating on weed to time may March 21. Solicitor Hunter is chairman; the which will plant corn, in fertilizer, other are killers, K. S. Quisenberry's stories of recon- sock and members Director Reid of Person- spray killer all in one operation, nel, John P. McFarland, Assistant to the Sec- structed small grains, and S. L. Emsweller's with weed retary, Thomas J. Flavin. triumphs with ornamentals. and then permit the corn grower to go on Judicial Officer, Office vacation until his crop is ready for harvest. of the Secretary, and Mildred C. Ben- Lilies, snapdragons, and carnations know ton, Chief, Division Meanwhile disease-resistant small grains of Field Library Services, what they want out of life, and they get it. Library. The scientists grow them entirely without are being fashioned with rapid efficiency. While it may take six or seven generations to soil—in pebbles, crushed stone, or mica The Land and Wildlife, by Edward H. fix resistance, the first three or four genera- Gra- causing one U.S. Senator to wonder about his ham (issued by Oxford University Press, New tions may be grown in the greenhouse at a wisdom in paying so much for a farm, which York 11), is the second book by a Soil Con- rate of or three to year. Specific re- was mainly soil! Nitrogen, phosphorus, and two a servation Service employee recently men- potash are fed in solution. The plants take sistance is skillfully built into strains and tioned herein, and the third by an author up exactly what they want for the particular varieties which then give greater and more living in Falls Church, Va. Dr. Graham is function they are undertaking, no more, no certain yields. If this keeps up, it will take a native of Pennsylvania and a graduate 2'/ acres it is generally of the University of Pittsburgh. less. Self-feeding works as well with them fewer than the 2 com- He Joined to grow USDA in 1937, and is now Chief of the Biology as with hogs or dogs; they select their diets puted that civilized man requires his food and fiber needs. Division, SCS. His book, finely printed, illus- as well as do human beings. trated, and provided with bibliography and quantities Finally the scientists talk well. They speak Lilies, for instance, take large index, is a guide to wildlife management by clearly, distinctly and in language easily un- of nitrogen until in full bloom, then abruptly proper land use. The wildlife discussed has derstood laymen; they talk with anima- change over to potash and go about the bulb- by nothing to do with late hours and night love of their Cheers! producing business. The number and earli- tion and real work. clubs, but consists of fish, birds, and mam- ness of certain kinds of flowers can be con- mals, living wild. The book deals with land trolled perfectly by rationing the phos- use practices that have proved most beneficial phorus. You can't fool the flowers on diet; Brief but important to these vertebrates. It is attractively and effectively written and offers the reader a lib- they know what they want and absorb it. eral education in this field. It forms an When the scientists want new forms or Dean Johnson: Word reaches us of the ideal companion to the same author's Natural unusual crosses of flowers or small grains, appointment of Eldon L. Johnson, formerly Principles of Land Use, published in 1943. they jostle the genes around with colchicine, of the USDA Graduate School, as dean of the the poisonous alkaloid from the autumn University of Oregon's College of Liberal Arts crocus. Forms fantastic and beautiful and its Graduate School. Dr. Johnson left Plain writing: Improvement in writing variations in color, shape, petal formation, here in the fall of 1945 to head the Depart- seems to interest all USDA employees every- and time of blooming—result. ment of Political Science at the Eugene insti- where. Lucidity and vigor, combined in Then there are the weed killers, so-called tution. He taught public administration in proper proportions, make for fine popular r plant hormones, really growth regulators, our Graduate School before becoming its exposition. But have something to say. Too minutest quantities of which have astound- director, and was organization and manage- many promise to enable anyone to write or ing effects on some plants, making the leaves ment analyst in the Office of Personnel from speak well, whether he or she has anything twist and curl and, if traced with radioac- 1938 to 1940. to say or not. The choice is not wholly tive elements, enabling the plant leaf to between Maury Maverick's gobbledygook take its own picture, showing exactly how and Ernest Heminway's superdynamic ma- To Mexico: Dallas Burch, veteran editor of the "hormone" rushes down from where a chine-gun style. The staccato can become Bureau of Animal Industry, and of the Agri- bit was brushed on a leaf, to the root, then monotonous and wearisome; even a terse, cultural Research Administration, accom- out into the plant entire. These chemicals short-sentence, monosyllabic style can fail, panied Dr. Maurice Shahan, of BAI, and his kill weeds, help ripen bananas, prevent pre- if lacking in vigor and glowing inner thought. small staff to Mexico to help put out infor- x mature fruit drop of apples, enable sprigs It is, indeed, even better to use longer sen- mational materials and prepare and file offi- of holly in water to put forth luxurious roots, tences and longer words, from time to time, cial reports to our Government on the battle set berries on female holly plants, make to- to prevent monotony and promote vocabu- against foot-and-mouth disease. matoes quickly appear from unpollinated lary improvement and precise word usage. flowers, and prevent sprouting of stored po- Lincoln, Mark Twain, Thackeray, and the tatoes and the development of apple scald. Fly holocaust: Insects find life more un- Bible are better guides to clear exposition Wil- There are more than a hundred of these bearable daily. Now Extension Director L. I. than James Joyce, Gertrude Stein, and chemicals, mostly with unpronounceable or- Jones, of Mississippi, announces a State- liam Faulkner. ganic-chemical names; 2,4—D is the abbrevi- Wide campaign to eradicate flies, using post- ation of only one of them. Some kill broad- ers, leaflets, a clean-up and sanitation pro- Keep Your Oats Out of Trouble: H. C. Mur- leaved and some only narrow-leaved plants. gram and The campaigners are al- phy and T. R. Stanton, of Plant Industry r DDT! Some would kill weeds; some the grass. If ready off to a good start, and the flies are Station, Beltsville, jointly wrote the article beets were planted with grass, some would kill said to be making stable reservations in more of this title on new oat varieties, seed treat- 4 the beets, some the grass. New methods have benighted areas. If you see any Mississippi ments, and so on, that maintain yields at been evolved to eradicate annual weeds like flies on the wing to far parts, you now know profitably high level; it appeared in Success- yellow mustard, using only 2 gallons of water why. They will not be going to Iowa, how- ful Farming for March 19<*7, and the authors to spray an acre, in lieu of the former 150; ever; it has a campaign of its own. have reprints. 746652°—47 —

Robert E. Conner has retired from Food and Erosion: For a fascinating account of how Waksman and Streptomycin is the title of Drug Administration with 47 years 9 months splash erosion injures bare soils, as described a popular article on this subject which of service. He began Government work as a by W. D. Ellison, of Soil Conservation Service, appears In American Journal of Pharmacy in 1898, clerk In the Post Office Department and of the methods SCS uses to combat for March—which came out in May! The \i Service, at Ogden, Utah (his was with Forest such erosion, ask Press Service by mall or Journal, the oldest pharmacy periodical in native State), from 1908 until 1916, and phone (Ext. 6114) for No. 1027. the Nation, also covers sciences supporting • Joined the old Bureau of Chemistry in 1917. public health, and issues from the Philadel- He was FDA's purchasing agent. phia College of Pharmacy and Science. DDT: Our entomologists are finding out Assistant on world problems: Col. R. L. Har- many new things about DDT in postwar in- assistant administrator for rison, formerly vestigations. DDT stimulates some plants, Obesity and the genes: G. E. Dickerson. *. Fiscal and Inventory Control, Production and like potatoes, in addition to keeping destruc- of our Regional Swine Breeding Laboratory 1 became Marketing Administration, on May tive bugs in check; others, like the canta- at Ames, Iowa, and J. W. Gowen, of Iowa to the Secretary to make a Special Assistant loups and the cucurbits generally, it injures. State College, report in Science for May 9 — the food necessary surveys and analyses of It appears to aid some insects directly, and that the gene which produces yellow coat situation as needed. some indirectly by checking their parasites, color in mice also reduces food requirements or the parasites of their parasites, or even per unit of gain, and produces obesity by committees are still Afore research advisory the parasites of their parasites' parasites, increasing the appetite and the food intake the need for and being appointed to study thus upsetting nature's balance of check and and reducing energy expenditures, especially projects to be undertaken under the kind of control. It appears to take a lorlg time to for activity. Hereditary obesity results from Marketing Act of 1946. Press Research and disintegrate in soil, and its end effects on fish, more efficient food utilization. See details release 941 tells about the appointment of the birds, livestock, and man must all be con- in Science. Fish Advisory Committee, release 1196, the sidered. One basic rule : Never use more Committee. Get these Tobacco Advisory DDT than will accomplish the purpose. from Press Service, by mall or phone Ext. 6114. REA's twelfth birthday: Employees of the l Rural Electrification Administration cut a cake and a rug at their annual birthday party Research and Marketing Act for 1946: For Annual leave: During the war a lot of you the night of in the comprehensive information regarding the had to work so hard that annual leave ac- May 8 Congressional Room of the Statler Hotel in origin and provisions of this legislation, and cumulated to your credit. Leave in excess of Washington. The it. occasion marked the 12 years since REA was what has been done so far to implement 14 days was not granted. Things are differ- write to Press Service (or phone Ext. 6114) ent now. The Department encourages born, on May 11. 1935. A message of greeting from President Truman, brief talks for No. 911, an address entitled "Research in planned annual -leave vacations to maintain by Ad- _ delivered ministrator Claude R. Wickard and former Marketing Agricultural Products." employees' health and efficiency, and it is Administrator Carmody. cutting of In Seattle, Wash., May 2. by the Administra- recommended that supervisors be liberal in John the a cake, dancing the eve- tor of the Act, E. A. Meyer. granting requests for annual leave to at- huge and made up ning's program. Since 1935. the 744.000 tend conventions and meetings of veterans, farms electrified have increased to approximately Automotive data: If interested in the technical and scientific societies, and fra- 3 ':i million. But. as Administrator Wickard budgetary and fiscal significance of auto- ternal and other organizations of interest to pointed out, the most difficult part of the job motive data for the fiscal year 1946—how employees. Liquidate some of your accumu- lies ahead, because approximately 2' million many cars and trucks TJSDA operates or re- lated annual leave, suggests the Office of Per- 2 places, their age, mileage runs, and so on sonnel. farms and at least 2 million rural schools, procure from the Office of Budget and Fi- churches, small industries, and other non- nance its Circular 777, Supplement 2, April farm establishments still are in the kerosene- Those Production Credit Associations: Over 15. lamp age. Farmers across the Nation have 397,000 farmers owned stock in 504 produc- become very much aware of the advantages tion credit associations on March 31. This DDT is death to dog ticks: These are the that electricity brings to income, health, and increase ? percent in the first ticks that carry Rocky Mountain spotted was an of 3 u> comfort, and the demand for electric-system quarter of 1947. fever. Bureau of Entomology and Plant These farmers now own a lean funds and construction materials far Quarantine makes specific recommendations total of $40,325,175 of stock in their associ- exceeds the availability. ations, reserves of $39,- for eradicating them on grass, weeds, or which have built up shrubs. Write Press Service (or phone Ext. 850.796. During the first 3 months of the ear farmers totaling Soil Conservation Districts: 6114) and ask for No. 963 for details. obtained 110,000 loans Herman $203,000,000 from these associations, or 4 per- Walker, Jr.. now with the Department of cent more loans and 16 percent more money State, and W. Robert Parks, of the Bureau Kellogg on soil science in France: Charles than in the same period last year. of Agricultural Economics, give an informa- E. Kellogg, head of USDA's Soil Survey, ad- tive exposition in the Journal of Politics dressed the Mediterranean Soil Science Con- for November 1946 (Vol. 8. No. 4), entitled ference at Montpellier, France, May 1. Thif Honored for war work: Drs. Henry Stevens "Soil Conservation Districts: Local Democracy | traveling conference then visited other and E. Jack Coulson, of the Bureau of Agri- in a National Program." Even though well points In southern France and South Africa. cultural and Industrial Chemistry, were pre- equipped with footnotes, the account is sented with certificates of appreciation by readable. - Col. Rufus L. Holt, Commandant of the Army Timber!!! The market value of the 588.- Medical Department's Research Graduate 526,000 board feet of timber cut on the na- National Association of Market Managers: ) School, on May 7. Their specific contribu- tional forests during the 3-month period Production and Marketing Administration tion was in the field of allergic reactions to all-time acted as host. May 14-16. to the historic first ended March 31 was $2,846,505, an certain types of vaccines containing egg pro- high. average paid bidders for annual meeting of the National Association *" The price by teins. Presentation of the certificates oc- this tvpe rose to the record peak of Market Managers. PMA Administrator of timber curred in the Secretarv's effice. of $4.84 per thousand board feet, the high- Gilmer led off with a welcome, and William L. _,, est average price Forest Service ever received, Wilson. Director of Florida State Farmers' and 12 percent above the corresponding quar- A review of our potato export program will Markets, presiding at the first session, pre- ter of 1946, while the volume cut advanced 38 be found in release No. 1014; phone Press sented the association purposes and objec- } ' percent over the same quarter last year—and Service, Ext. 6114, or write in to it. Nearly tives. Three days of panel discussions and this is normally a dull season! While demand 10 million bushels of the 1946 crop were occasional addresses, with special meetings for saw timber Is unprecedented, sound forest shipped abroad under this program. of Retail and Farm Women's Market Groups, management on a sustained-yield basis is followed. The association is comprised of gaining ground, and 29 percent of the forest- the directors of markets all over the U. S. Rural Electrification Administrator Wick- cutting practices on land owned by those ard delivered another of his punchy and in- holding 50.000 acres or more are now good. formative addresses on May 10; it was titled Fruit -bedecked and garnished frankfurters: But small owners, who hold 76 percent of the "Let America Grow." Get it from Press The staff at our Western Regional Research privately owned commercial forests land in Service: phone Ext. 6114. or write in. Ask for Laboratory has devised a pectinate material the V. S.. lag badly. No. 1009. frcm citrus peel and apple pomace which provides a soluble protective coating for saus- Where i.s the front of the South Building? Fiber-measuring devices: Research Achieve- age, as well as for other meat and food prod- Think before you answer. Many perplexed ment Sheet 74 (A), available from Agricul- ucts. The method of making the casing is couples try to meet one another at the tural Research Administration (phone 3780 I. simple and involves use of the low-methoxyl middle entrance. Independence Avenue side: tells how various fiber-measuring devices pectin not long since developed by this same they in turn confound the guards on duty. developed by John I. Hardy and associates, laboratory. When the coated product is Some say ruptured romances and divorces of Bureau of Animal Industry, at a cost of boiled, the film dissolves; if the product is have started thus. The front of the South about $5,000. prove worth $4,000,000 annually roasted the harmless coating is consumed Building, in Washington, is on the Four- to the textile industry and others who use with it. These pectinate films have many teenth Street side; go take a look at It and them. They are also Invaluable in crime potential uses. For technical details get No. you'll see that architecturally that's the detection work. Six instruments are de- 1048 from Press Service; write in, or phone main entrance. scribed in this sheet. Ext. 6114.

2 USDA: June 23, 1947 . — —

John E. Hodge, of the Northern Regional O. V. Wells scores some cogent points: The Extension Editor Advisory Committee Research Laboratory, has made major contri- The Chief of the Bureau of Agricultural Eco- met with Extension and other agency infor- 19-23. butions to our knowledge about preparing nomics spoke recently before a group of vis- mation personnel in Washington, May iting farm-journal After introduc- The seven chosen ones this year were: C. R. complex starch derivatives, which may lead to editors. tory remarks about the present high pros- Elder, Iowa, chairman; Glenn C. Rutledge, Ar- the development of more durable lacquers, perity of agriculture in general, in which he kansas, secretary; T. W. Gildersleeve, North varnishes, fibers, and products sim- synthetic showed that, thus far, price supports for Dakota; George Round, Nebraska; Louis ilar to cellophane. This talented research farm products have been called into play Franke, Texas; Calvert Anderson, Washing- chemist, a Negro, was educated at the Uni- for only a few items, Wells asked this ques- ton; Tony Hofford, Rhode Island. In addi- versity of Kansas. tion: Why is there so much concern over tion to profound deliberations and animated our farm policy? His answer was: (1) A discussions, there was the usual boat trip vague realization that we have a prevailing down the Potomac, and luncheon with the Origin, Structure, and Functions of USDA: administered price system in business; (2) Secretary speaking informally. Theme of The USDA document of this title, still No. 1 the fact that the union labor movement is the conference: A Balanced Extension In- in our series (now reduced from 10 to only here to stay, including collective bargaining formation Program. Copies of the commit- 6) , has recently been revised and brought and pressure for high wage levels; the tee's report are available from Extension In- up to date. Write (please do not phone) to (3) further fact that the whole world is really formation (phone 6283). T. Swann Harding. Office of Information, De- under a controlled and administered price partment of Agriculture, Washington 25, system; (4) and, finally, that the wartime D. C, for copies; ask for as few as you can Jack's retirement application approved increase of about a third in farm output get along with as our supply is limited. For after 13 years! Thirteen years ago—May 20, is here to stay. How, then, can the millions your information, old Document No. 2. en- 1934, to be exact—John A. (Jack) Ferrall filed of farm operators, working separately, titled "Constituent Agencies of the U. S. face an application for retirement, under the such conditions and circumstances and re- Department of Agriculture.'* has been dis- Economy Act. He was talked out of it. tain a relatively profitable market? That is continued. Send for new document list, if Every time since then when he has picked the $64 question for today. you wish. up his hat to go, he has been talked out of it. But this time it seems final—effective June 30, 1947. Jack came to the Bureau of Plant Farmers buy food: Last year farmers spent Atoms down on the farm: By courtesy of Industry in 1906 and for years served as head about 2% billion dollars buying food. Nearly W. W. Waymack, former editor of the Des clerk for the Office of Crop Physiology di- a fifth of their cash income is expended for Moines Register-Tribune, and now a member rected by Dr. Walter T. Svingle (retired). that purpose; in the late twenties it was 17 of the Atomic Energy Commission, USDA When that office was absorbed by the Division percent. It is the prices farmers pay for has for distribution 150 copies of a mimeo- of Fruit and Vegetable Crops and Diseases a things they buy that determine parity prices, graphed speech entitled "Atomic Research dozen years ago. Jack carried on in charge so food prices go up in stores, that helps Dividends for the Parmer," Drs. when by Paul C. of publication records and distribution and to raise the parity prices for products the Aebersold and Nathan H. Woodruff, of the as editor of the division's semimonthly News farmer has to sell. Commission's Isotopes Branch at Oak'Ridge. Letter. He will make his home near Holly- If you would like something authentic about wood, Calif., and expects to do a little free- what atomic energy may be expected to do The Small Community Looks Ahead, a book lance writing while lolling in the han\mock for farmers, write for a copy to T. Swann by Wayland J. Hayes, in collaboration with a under the apricot trees. You know him as Harding, Office of Information, Department former Forest Service employee, Anthony USDA's outstanding contributor. of Agriculture, Washington 25, D. C. Netboy, gives case histories of revived small especially in the South; it de- communities, Increasing Value of Agricultural Waste scribes techniques for organizing communi- They were Brahmans after all: Experts in Products is the title of an illuminating ad- ties developing native leadership. Ask and the Bureau of Dairy Industry tell us we need dress delivered by E. C. Lathrop, head of your book store or the Department Library. not have gotten such a red face on page 4, the Agricultural Residues Division of 1

USDA: June 23, 1947 —"

Foot-and-mouth disease in Mexico: Press Louis Bean is back: For man y years in the What? No lice? Possibility of a louse- releases are Issued every now and then on Bureau of Agricultural Economics, Bean has free world looms, according to E. F. Knipling, the status of the Mexican-American battle returned as an administrative assistant on of Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quaran- against foot-and-mouth disease. If inter- the staff of the Secretary. He has been In tine. However bad off human beings mav ested, contact Press Service In writing, or the Bureau of the Budget during the interim. have been, the lice have had a tough time phone Ext. 6114, and ask for releases on of it too during the past the subject. Following are the most recent 5 years, and future prospects are even dimmer. ones: No. 1060, No. 1133. Supplement No. 4 Guayule latex: Edwin P. Jones, of the The louse has lived in close friendly to Summary of Developments in the Mexican Guayule Emergency Rubber Project, Salinas, association with hu- man beings Outbreak of Foot-and-Mouth Disease was Calif., reported recently from the Bureau of —that is, some human beings- since the issued May 17; write or phone Sally Miller Agricultural and Industrial Chemistry on the dawn of history. But DDT makes (Ext. 3780), Agricultural Research Admin- recovery of rubber latex from guayule shrubs. louse eradication possible, despite the per- istration. A maximum of about 70 percent of the rub- fect adjustment the louse has worked out ber present in 3- to 4-year-old foliate shrubs with man and human blood. Other sub- was recovered as a latex containing 35-50 stances with which EPQ has Newcastle disease: Ten thousand chickens worked, two re- percent solids. Continuous processing with lated to DDT, as well as were recently vaccinated against Newcastle methyl bromide, can better adapted equipment should bring that toll the knell of the departing disease on one District of Columbia farm! louse. If 70 up to 80 percent. The rubber was of ex- some louse strain hardily The disease has now been found in 39 States. resists DDT newlv cellent quality and compared well with or- developed materials Losses of 15 to 20 percent occur in young like 3956 and chl'ordane dinary hevea rubber, though it is slightly may accomplish the birds of Infected flocks, and there is a marked purpose anyway. inferior for general but superior for certain decrease in egg production by layers. For special uses like sponge rubber, and certain more information write Ralph Erskine in Psocid dipped goods requiring high tensile strength exonerated: If vou are acquainted Bureau of Animal Industrv. with psocids, and elongation. The process is so far per- pronounced just as If the little in fected as greatly to facilitate any future in- T> front wasn't there, or have viewed these mites, vestigations of making latex from guayule. commonly called "book lice Value of State-Federal research: A 5-page with alarm, take heart. The entomologists press release appeared May 22, devoted to the after watching the little creatures for two value of research performed by Federal-State decades, The Place of Economic Research in the say that they neither bite human cooperation in the State agricultural experi- beings Marketing Field: This is the title of an arti- nor damage paper and fabrics—the ment stations; it digests the annual report latter usually cle by Bennett S. White, Jr., acting in charge being done by silverflsh Fo<- of R. W. Trullinger, Chief of the years Office of of the Marketing and Transportation Re- psocids have been blamed for the de- Experiment Stations. This research was search Division of Bureau of Agricultural structive antisocial acts of other insects financed by 37,206.208 In Federal grants and Economics. It appeared in Marketing and They thrive in damp, dark, poorlv ventilated 520,186.854 of State funds during fiscal rooms, the Transportation Situation for April-May, pro- or in new houses not entirely drv year. The value of the results of many single curable from BAE (phone 4407). It tells They feed on microscopic molds on 'damp projects runs into millions saved to farmers. about the kind of research projects that can furniture, wall paper, straw mattings, and We strongly recommend that so you procure re- be undertaken in this field under the Re- on For details see USDA Leaflet No. lease 189 No. 1109 from Press Service; write from search and Marketing Service Act of 1946 Psocids, Annoying House Pests the field; phone Ext. 6114 in Washington. It It is especially informative in showing how will be well worth your while to know more the various fields of research, for which the War on words: about the nature and value of this coopera- Civil Service Commissioner legislation makes provision, tie together; it Frances Perkins tive research carried on in every State the has declared open warfare in should be read by all who are interested In on such words Nation. The variety of the projects and their as "deemphasize." "disen- the kinds of research to be carried on. rollee," and sound monetary value will astound you. '•amputee." and such phrases as ' operate at this level." and related horrors Maury Did you know? That mosquitoes find you Maverick once called such language Colored 4r-H: Plans are being made "gobbledygock." for the more edible when you dress in black, but H. L. Mencken, remarking first national encampment that the of colored 4-H quite unpalatable when you dress in white wash bowls in the British Museum boys and gii s, to be held in bore the sign, 1948. Direc- or yellow? Blue and red also attract the "These basins are for casual tor Wilson .says Extension Service ablutions," will co- pests, and, in a half-minute test run, 1,499 says that Government employees operate with the State services on the are anything same mosquitoes lit on a black shirt worn by one but masters of prose, and he basis as it does for holding the calls national camp man as compared with only 520 on the white their writing pretentious, shabbv bom- in Washington each year. Details bastic, later. shirt of another. ... Or that 18 companies and ponderous. Are they alone in this now manufacture fruit essences by the meth- weakness? Did someone murmur "lawyers"? Anyhow about the World Soil and Fertilizer Resources in Re- od devised at our Eastern Regional Research worker who turned up with a note from the lation to Food Needs: Those Interested in this Laboratory, 5 of them making the products doctor say- ing he had suffered "a address by Robert M. Salter, for sale and 3 of them producing apple es- contusion of the Chief of the Bu- periorbital integument, reau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricul- sence? One concern has capacity to produce subcutaneous hem- orrhage, occhymosis of the conjunctiva tural Engineering mentioned in USDA for 35,000 gallons of essence a year. That proc- and — the periorbital cuticular . . tissues, March 31-April 14 can now find it leading ess proved practical in a big way. . That discolora- — tion, off the May 23 issue the annual board bill of the corn borer is tumefaction, and abrasion of the su- of Science. pramalar now $37,700,000 and 84 percent of it is paid epidermis." Well, he had a black in Iowa. Illinois, Indiana, and Pennsvlvania? eve. New England conserves soil: Eight years ago Vermont led the way here by enacting its Rugged bugs: Scientists at our Western Re- enabling law for soil conservation The Ruffed Grouse, a book by Frank C districts; gional Research Laboratorv have discovered now 56 districts cover 33 million acres of Edminister. a regional biologist of Soil Con- that New bugs in juice from oranges afflicted not England, embracing 130,000 farms and all servation Service at Upper Darby, Pa., has of too severely with soft rot survive freezing and rural New Hampshire and Rhode Island. Vrr- been published by Macmillan Co. of New r^ storage at 0° F. for 8 months! Even then mont and Connecticut lack one county York City. If interested, contact the pub- each the frozen Juice of the "soft rot" oranges of being covered entirely; Maine, the lisher, your local bookstore, or the Librarv. second contains far more bacteria than fresh frozen of these States to enact a districts law, has orange Juice from sound fruit; as extracted. only three counties and the swamp area of Radioactive atoms are tagged: Radioactive its microbe population is 2.500 greater than Aroostook outside. Massachusetts is all that of juice from phosphorus has a half life of 14 days—can sound fruit. Moral: The within districts except coastal Barnstable juice be caught by the Geiger counter as present of sound fruit only must be used in pre- County, the offshore islands of Dukes and paring when there in only one-billionth part. Such frozen orange Juice. icket. and Suffolk County, which is mostly occupied by Boston. tagged atoms enable our scientists not only to tell where phosphorus goes In a plant, but how much phosphorus the plant gets International Cereals Conference: On May from the fertilizer, how much from the soil. June 23, 1947 Vol. VI, No. 13 22 the Secretary addressed to Dr. D. A. Fitz- Use a bit of radioactive phosphorus In the Gerald. Secretary-General of the Interna- fertilizer; analyze the plant for total phos- USDA is published fortnightly for distri- tional Emergency Food Council, a letter sug- phorus; estimate the tagged phosphorus by bution to employees only, by direction of gesting that an International Cereals Con- means of the Geiger counter: that's the cur- the Secretary of Agriculture and with the ference be held to devise Improved manage- rent research process. Thus the effects of approval of the Director of the Budget, as ment of lndieenouslv produced food sup- soils, fertilizer placements, and plant-growth containing administrative Information re- plies. The IEFC almost immediately ap- stages can be accurately checked. Since quired for proper transaction of the public proved this suggestion. The conference will plant use of phosphorus Is only 20 percent business. be hold in Europe sometime this summer. efficient, improvement here would mean Address correspondence to Editor of USDA. The European, in fact the world, food situ- much to farmers. Unfortunately some radio- Office of Information. U. S. Department of ation remains most critical; violence and active isotopes have a very brief half life; Agriculture, Washington 25, D. C. Washing- rioting can be prevented only if maximum other elements do not become radioactive; ton employees phone 4842 or 4875 on editorial food supplies are sent abroad. but phosphorus can teach us a lot anyway. matters; 3185 on distribution.

. S. COVtRHMTNT PRINTING OTFICC: 1W7 production. The plan worked. Enough lum- SHARE THIS COPY ber has been removed to build six 5-room houses, and sufficient pulpwood to print 65 million copies of USDA!—and in addition, sufficient firewood to heat an average home 'V for 27 years, plus 288 fence posts. The value of these products as delivered ^ to mill or market works out at $133 per acre, for 9 years of operation, or $14.82 per acre per year. Figured on the basis of the time it took to harvest and deliver the prod- ucts, the average is $1.10-$1.64 per hour, and the "Farm Forty" has on it more timber of better quality today than when the proj- ect began. - > Timber production is not a panacea of FOR JULY 7, 1947 farm ills, but proper timber crop manage- ment can improve the status of most land- owners, and their lot too, i. e. the farm woodlot. The Farm Forty has arotised wide- spread interest throughout the U.S. Forest- ers and timberland owners from nearly every State east of the Great Plains have come to see the demonstration, not to mention Type size, conrant Our land many students and foresters from foreign lands. The best flattery of all is imitation THE LAND area of the U.S. important riv- COMMENTS flutter in, replying to our — of the Crossett Farm Foresty Forty else- ers and lakes not included—is about 1,905

' where in the South, Midwest, and East. request for reader opinions of USDA in million, or nearly 2 billion acres, according (Basic facts sent in by R. R. Reynolds, to the 1945 census. Of this, 13 million acres the May 26-June 9 issue. Most readers Southern Forest Experiment Station, head- are in cities and towns; 87 are occupied by quarters at New Orleans.) like the house organ as it is. A consid- parks, railroads, highways, military lands,

- erable and very intelligent minority and so on; 94 comprise deserts, rock, swamps, and other rural land that is not farmed; like it in larger or it would type, wish and forests occupy about 260 million acres, Delayed mail -could be made prettier. We admit out which are not grazed. There are 345 million acres of forest pasture, 706 of grassland, and THOUSANDS of pieces of mail are delayed of hand that we have sacrificed pulchri- 403 million are capable of cultivation. Some yearly because of incomplete or incorrect ad- tude and larger type size to cram more of the last is idle or in fallow. dresses. Mail should always have (1) name information into USDA. In short, crops, pasture, and timber oc- of addressee, and (2) name of agency. If cupy about 1,700 million acres, or 90 percent considered necessary, the division, section, Properly to cover the activities of the of the Nation's land area, and the other 10 or room number may be added, but in any Department, using the type size in which percent is agriculturally of slight use. Only event numbers 1 and 2 should always appear about a fifth of our land area is used for on the envelope. these words are set for everything—BBI actual crop production and only about 350 All mail received in the Department Post items and all—we should have to have million acres have been planted in or used for Office in Washington with incomplete ad- growing crops during recent years. Hence dresses has to be checked with the telephone an 8-page issue fortnightly or a 4-pager our current enormous crop production comes directory, to learn the right agency. Delays weekly. This our budget does not per- from less than a fifth of our land area, while involved in this process depend on the vol- mit. We therefore face an incessant a third of our cropland is located in the Great ume of correctly addressed mail received for Plains, a fifth in the Corn Belt, and a sixth handling. Mail correctly addressed is han- struggle between using small type and each in the South, the West, and the North- dled first, and second, mail incompletely or no reader-enticement devices in order east and Lake States. incorrectly addressed. The largest single use of the land Is for If all employees would correctly address to get in just as much information as pasture and grazing—a billion acres. Pro- material sent by mail, what a happy day possible, or using larger type, ornamental duction of livestock and livestock products that would be for mail clerks as well as thus takes over half of the land area, crop- others! (This would include the editors of heads and subheads, illustrations, de- land for growing feed excluded. More land USDA. who get mail from the field with no partments, and other space-taking con- is now in farms than ever before, 1.1 billion bureau, no city or town, and mail from em- without the name of trivances, and omitting much important acres. ployees in Washington About 75 percent of the Nation's land is the agency.) information. privately owned, 20 percent is owned by the percent So when you come right down to it we Federal Government, and 5 by State and local Governments. The Federal land is Speaking writing are asking you: Do you vote for a prettier largely forest, grazing land, and desert; much of it is in national parks, game refuges, In- house organ in bigger type or an un- no doubt heard of the half -illiterate dian reservations, and military establish- YOU'VE comely USDA in smaller type? For the who said he could read reading writing but ments, but much is used by farmers and couldn't read writing writing. This is time we shall compromise by going back ranchers. Parks, forests, and grazing lands he about speaking writing. make up most of the holdings of State and to this size type for the first and second then a fellow named Mark local governments. Every now and pages of articles in each issue (as soon Adams came over from Austin to Texas A. & M. and helped Extension Editor Louis Franke as we run out of some already set in Farm forestry forty and others untangle their publications. One smaller type) , and running the last two day Louis loaned him Dr. Rudolf Flesch's Plain Talk and asked him to read pages of each issue in unassorted, un- TIMBER can be an annual farm crop, even The Art of it. Mark did and returned it with a note h as are corn, potatoes, or cotton. It has a catalogued Brief but Important items in place on many farms and can yield a high saying he could write a more useful book, in so, for here it was. Said Mark: the small (6V2 on 7) type. If howls of return per hour of labor expended. The fact had done Crossett (Ark.) branch of the Southern "In my book I tell you to do what Dr. Flesch "rage and disapproval result, shall try we Forest Experiment Station has proved that tells you to do. Only Dr. F. tells you how to to please the more vociferous group, as since 1937, on 40 acres of reasonably well- do it the hard way and I tell you how to do it the easy way. He takes 22 chapters and an "a democracy always does. But women, stocked, natural pine-hardwood second growth selected for study. It stands on appendix to tell you. I take only 2 chapters their detractors say, are never both beau- typical upland soil of relatively low produc- and a summary." covers 2 mimeo- tiful and wise. The choice between tivity for row crops. The Mark Adams; "book" It was planned to harvest timber annually, graphed sheets, single space. The first chap- beauty and wisdom faces USDA unceas- making the volume cut equal the volume ter tells you How To Be a Good Writer. The ingly, and a rigid budget is always grown—i. e. sustained yield, but taking the second tells you How To Be an Extra-Good cut from the poorer trees to improve quality Writer. Then there is the summary which -present. of the stand and the value of the future winds up—"If you don't feel comfortable 748878' — — sitting around listening to a bunch of They have, too, a new snap bean, the Logan, one did answer you would probably take off. farmt- .1 never be a really good writer that will bear looking Into—and sampling. Use exhibits or slides if apposite; think of for farmers, no matter what rules you use. It Is a hardy and prolifi: cross of the U. S. your manuscript as talk; talk it conversa- re got no business trying to work with No. 5 Refugee and Stringless Black Valentine. tionally, otherwise you will sound stiff and^l farmer.s in the first place." It is a disease-resistant triple header. That stilted. A read speech needs life. Other-. I listen to people talk, not is. it is outstanding for three distinct uses it suffers from rigor mortis. If you can't do 1 v, but to how they say it, then as a market garde.i bean, in the home gar- anything else, stop somewhere and say "Who write like that. Be interested in the things den, and for use by the processing industries. writes this stuff anyway?" or "It says here." but read as if you which interest them, then you become extra It is one of the many valuable contributions were alive and not a good. Texas A. & M. English profs did not being made by our Southeastern Regional dummy and all will be well. relish the Adams contempt for grammar and Vegetable Breeding Laboratory, Charleston, rhetoric. They also said you couldn't write S ,C, where work is under way in cooperation rmers talk because farmers are often with 13 Southeastern States. John A. Fer- Brief but important iculate—but they all wanted copies of rall. PISAE, retired. Adams' 'book." Do you? If you do, write Louis Franke, Extension Editor. A. & M. Col- Foot-and-mouth disease was the main sub- lege. College Station, Tex., and ask him for a ject of The Extensioner, Louis Franke. Col- copy of How To Write So People Will Know Superior accomplishments lege Station, Tex., editor, for April. Texas What You're Trying to Say, dedicated to the Is, of course, right on the main potential invasion front should the disease enter twin theses that it's easier to talk than to THE Department recently awarded superior the U. S. from Mexico. This issue of The Exten- write, so you better write by ear. accomplishment pay increases to the follow- sioner affords a fine compendium of informa- ing 10 employees: f tion on the history and outbreaks of. eco- Farmers Home Administration: Edward B. nomic losses caused by. and control of, foot- for constantly enthusiastic and The rot and the spores Angle, suc- and-mouth disease. Write Louis; maybe he cessful effort to improve practices and pro- can spare you a copy if you are interested. . . cedures; Genevieve A. Martin, for assuming Meanwhile, in Mexico, U. S. and Mexican au- . BROWN ROT causes a condition known as responsibiliities over and above those ex- thorities are combating the outbreak of foot- mummy peaches. It attacks the fruits; outstanding contribu- pected of her and for and-mouth there. Gasoline-powered shov- they shrivel; some cling, some drcp to the tion to weekly broadcasts; William e. FHA els, bulldozers, jeeps, trucks, and other auto- ground. By spring a half-buried mummy Newell, for suggesting a revision of the Ne- motive equipment and heavy machinery re- peach may develop some five or six cup- braska Crop and Chattel Mortgage form; cently arrived from the U. S. Most of it was . shaped fungus fruiting bodies filled with Park, for assuming county office Loula S. Army surplus. Details are in release 1201; spores, ready to discharge hordes of them duties far beyond her normal responsibilities; write, or phone Ext. 6114. Press Service. into the air about the time the peach blos- Theda N. Scott, for preparing, editing, and soms appear. presenting for 4 years weekly FHA broadcasts Did we say "hordes"? We did, and with of unusual quality and continuity; Faye A. New drought bulletin: Soil Conservation warrant. For only three of the aforesaid Wall, for serving as nurse and maintaining a Service has issued a new Farmers' Bulletin cups—known in technical circles as apoth- first aid room in addition to her assigned (No. 1982), entitled "When Drought Returns ecia—can supply sufficient spores to allow 50 duties; Harold L. Winfield, for exceptionally to the Great Plains." Despite the fact that for each square inch of an acre orchard! effective public relations work carried on in this region is periodically subject to inevi- is to program activities. Such the melancholy calculation of John addition usual FHA table droughts, farmers can weather them if .4 C. Dunegan. Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, Forest Service: Mary W. Hutchins, for as- they start conservation in time during the and Agricultural Engineering. That means suming duties of unusual difficulty in addi- good years. The bulletin gives soil and mois- that each cup can produce 150 million spores, tion to maintaining a work record of excep- ture conservation methods which have proved tional quality; Jasper King, participat- more or less, and six of them might readily E. for effective. It emphasizes that we do not need ing in the design stereoscopic toss off a billion. Infections started by these of a plotter to have another Dust Bowl. Several hundred early spring spores develop different type and developing a method for making topo- a soil conservation districts in the Great Plains graphic maps from aerial photographs at low of summer spore; these, in turn, spread the help farmers and ranchers meet the drought infection. cost. menace. This FB is available in the Patio, No wonder orchard owners are urged to Soil Conservation Service: Clay C. Barnett, or by mail, from the Office of Information. apply protective sprays to prevent develop- for originating the idea of, and establishing, ment of the spores which lodge in blossoms. a complete soil conservation plan on a farm Another obvious step is removal of just as in one day as a demonstration. The job yet to be done in rural electrifica- many mummies as possible from the trees tion is well outlined in a letter dated May 22 and the soil beneath them. These facts of that Rural Electrification Administrator life among the leading brown-rot circles give Reading your speech Wickard addressed to Rep. Jamie L. Whitten. you some idea of the problems faced by those 2\' There were still 2 million farm families who seek to cope with diseases of plants and living without electric light and power at the CONTRARY to general opinion, it is not fatal trees. beginning of 1947. and more than 2 million to read a speech. What is fatal is to die on rural schools, crossroads business places, and your feet the minute you begin to read. But did not have highline a written speech can be much better pre- dwellings not on farms All-American vegetables pared, much better balanced, and much power. For more detail get copies of the more satisfactory than diffuse extemporane- letter from REA information; address Allyn A. Walters or phone Ext. 3564. THE VEGETABLE industry of the United ous remarks, provided it is read well. How Here are rules, States is not content to leave to baseball and accomplish that? some in part derived from 14 of them propounded football enthusiasts the selection of all-Amer- Rutm in tomatoes: William L. Porter and recently J. of Western ican teams. A committee of the seed trade, by Edward Hegarty Joseph Naghski, of USDA, recently reported known as All-America Selections, conducts a Electric. on the isolation and identification of rutin, apologize for seek to justify comparison under actual field conditions of Neither nor the drug that prevents capillary fragility, the fact that will read the speech. Read promising new varieties, hybrid or otherwise. you in Red Currant tomato plants. The Red slowly, not as if had a train to catch, From thee the most outstanding are selected you Currant has quite small fruit and is of con- for All-America honors and awarded medals. and above all avoid the deadly flat monotone siderable interest to plant breeders because 99 people out of a hundred automatically And if there's any doubt In your mind as of its resistance to the fungus causing minute begin to read. Read to whether the Department's specialists on adopt the they fusarium wilt. The Red Currant also con- loudly, putting in more volume than ; you vege Ing "know beans," it should be tains the antibiotic, 'tomatin. which pre- really need. will help wiped out by the announcement that at least think you That make vents development of wilt, though not in readers understand and also persuade them ; their creations have won All-America direct proportion to the quantity present in honors in recent years. These are the Early that you are alive. the plant. Rutin does nothing to prevent but them Market, and the Fordhook No. 242, bush lima Don't anchor your hands use fusarium wilt, nor does it influence the beans. They are outstanding results from to gesture now and then, and pause every tomatin assay. Rutin and tomatin are not of inbreeding and selection con- once in a while, if only to look up. smile, identical, either, although they tend to ap- Mo;.- Magruder and R. E. Wester, take a drink of water (or whatever Is pear together In the leaves and stems of of the Division of Fruit and Vegetable Crops handy), or to repeat what you just said in these tomatoes, and the Bureau of Agricul- and I ;ureau of Plant Industry, Soils, different words, preferably walking off from tural and Industrial Chemistry workers and Agrlcultur

USDA: July 7, 1947 I —

Watersheds and National Forests is the The Farmer in the Second World War, A Dye test for cotton-fiber maturity: Chem- title of an address Chief Lyle F. Watts, of new book by Walter W. Wilcox, professor of ists at the Southern Regional Research Lab- Forest Service, delivered before the Twelfth agricultural economics at the University of oratory are developing a most ingenious quick North American Wildlife C< 'iference, in San Wisconsin, brings to farm leaders, profes- dye test for maturity in fibers of unprocessed Antonio last February. But it is so packed sional workers in agriculture, college stu- cotton lint in laboratories or dye houses. A with information about watersheds, wildlife, dents of economics, and others an accurate mixture of dyes of contrasting colors and different timber, and range management, and other • account of what went on in agriculture dur- dyeing properties is used. The matters relating to sound forest management ing the war. The book, available from your thick-walled or mature fibers dye one color that we recommend you procure copies from bookseller, library, or Iowa State College the thin-walled fibers, commonly called im- FS and read them. Address FS Division of Press, has a commendatory foreword by mature, another. Differentiation is easy. For Information and Education, or phone Ext. Oscar C. Stine, Assistant Chief, Bureau of details get No. 1218 from Press Service by writing in or 3760 or 5920. Agricultural Economics. by phoning Ext. 6114—and when we say "Press Service" or any other unit not otherwise identified, Calling all biologists: You will be much Iceless refrigerator car: Marketing Facili- we always mean that it is a part of the USDA. interested in the first three articles in Science ties Branch, Production and Marketing Ad- for May 30. Robert F. Griggs, Chairman of ministration, can supply details on tests of a Indirections Those to Biology and Agriculture of the National Re- refrigerator car cooled by use of anhydrous for Who Want Write, by Sydney Cox, of Dartmouth, is search Council, discusses the question, Shall ammonia, which maintained temperatures of a com- mendable book. Described on the dust jacket Biologists Set Up a National Institute? approximately 0° F. under conditions of as "an honest, searching, and urbanely casual Ralph E. Cleland, of Indiana University, summer heat, thus maintaining prime qual- record of the discoveries that the writer shows the possible advantages of cooperation ity of frozen foods. Ordinary refrigerator makes about his craft by practicing it, with between various learned societies in the mat- cars do not do this. some that he makes about life by living it," ter of publication. H. B. Tukey, who heads it makes stimulating reading. The first half the Department of Horticulture at Michigan Need for Multiple Delivery Points in Grain is full of fine epigrams and practical phi- State, takes as his title, "Research in Funda- Futures Markets: This is the title of a iy2 losophy. The whole is written in an unusu- mental Biology and in Agriculture," and has page mimeographed document issued by ally attractive literary style; even the table not a little to say about the Research and Commodity Exchange Authority, May 26. of contents is unique. Alfred A. Knopf of Marketing Act of 1946. New York published May Coult, widely known in the Depart- the book; obtain it from bookstores or ment as the able foreign-language translator libraries. Read it by all means, Of interest to those in, or interested in, whether you are only trying of Office of Foreign Agricultural Relations, to write or are Forest Service: See Bernard De Voto's de- writing with some measure of success. partment, The Easy Chair, in Harper's Maga- now has something beautifully engraved in writing to prove what her coworkers and zine for January and for June. Cheddar cheese improvement: Research associates have known for a long time, Achievement Sheet No. 75 (D) tells how namely, that she's quite an authority on Three new publications: DDT . . . For workers in the Bureau of Dairy Industry de- Spanish-American literature. George Wash- Control of Household Pests, attractively in- vised a new method of making uniformly ington University has awarded her a B. A. formative, from Bureau of Entomology and good Cheddar cheese from pasteurized milk upon her completion of an intensive and Plant Quarantine and Public Health Service, by using an active and dependable starter, rather formidable course in the classical dated March, 5 cents; and a publication and controlling the rate arid amount of acid literature of the Spanish-speaking countries from the State Department, entitled "Mos- development by following an exact time of the Western Hemisphere. The point of cow Meeting of the Council of Foreign Min- schedule. The process, developed at an esti- 10-April 1947" (it is the story is that it took her 22 years to isters—March 24, the mated cost of $100,000, is worth 2 to 3 million achieve the honor. She says it wasn't be- address by Secretary Marshall, broadcast dollars annually to the Cheddar cheese in-

, cause she was a slow learner just that she April 28) 10 cents; to get these, send the — dustry, and will be worth more when widely could attend classes only at night and other money, in coin, to Superintendent of Docu- applied, for it upgrades millions of pounds ments, Government Printing Office, Wash- odd times. Now Miss Coult hopes the next of cheese. Procure these achievement sheets ington, D. C. The Balance Sheet of Agricul- degree she seeks, a master's, won't take so from Dallas Burch, Agricultural Research Ad- ture, Miscellaneous Publication is 1946, 620, long. ministration (Ext. 3780). from Bureau of Agricultural Economics; get this in the Patio, or by mail, from Office of European corn borer control: Details of It's the fat in those oranges, or at least it's Information. methods suggested by Bureau of Entomology the suspended material in the juice that con- and Plant Quarantine for control of the tains the lipid or fatty fraction, which un- Radio people: We have secured about 60 European corn borer in market and hybrid dergoes changes and produces that off-flavor copies of a report made to Ken Gapen, Chief, sweet corn, and under some conditions in much processed orange juice develops when USDA's Radio Service, by Dana Reynolds field corn also, will be found in No. 1256, stored after the latter had worked with field USDA available from Press Service; write, or phone at room temperature. Filtered juices and State people in nine Western States be- Ext. 6114. develop some off-flavor, but not as much as tween February 25 and April 10. Dana dis- whole juices, and also different in character. cusses sources of information, ad lib shows, Dr. Charles J. Galpin, between 1911 and Peel oil is responsible for little if any of the program promotion, how to get material and 1934 economist in charge of the Division of off-flavor, though it may sometimes mask it. write regular programs, radio training Farm Population and Rural Life, Bureau of Juice pressed from peeled fruit developed schools, extension workers and the radio, Agricultural Economics, died in Falls Church, about as much off-flavor as any other. These and a lot of other miscellaneous topics, all Va., June 1, aged 83. He was an interna- and other illuminating facts were developed quite informally. If interested in radio, tionally known and respected rural economist by researches of A. Laurence Curl and M. K. you'd probably like a copy. Write T. Swann and sociologist. A native New Yorker, he at- Veldhuis, of our Citrus Products Harding, Office of Information, USDA, Wash- tended Colgate, Harvard, Clark, and the Uni- Station at ington 25, D. C. versity of Wisconsin, was the author of a Winter Haven, Fla. number of books, editor of Country Life We say write, do not phone, because: Edi- Books, and joint editor of the Systematic No more coupons for sugar: As everyone tors have to be out a lot, attending meet- Source Book in Rural Sociology. He had knows by this time, Secretary Anderson an- ings, digging up information, and so on, and lived in Falls Church since his retirement nounced the end of sugar rationing for phones just have to go unanswered then; over a decade ago. households, hotels, and restaurants, on June also because the editor and the assistant 11. Rationing of industrial sugar and price editor of USDA wee on different floors, and Medal for Bennett: A gold medal and the controls remain in effect. Under present have different phone and room numbers, but Cuban Order of Merit have been awarded legislation, all sugar controls will end October notes, however informal, pass easily and to Hugh H. Bennett, Chief, Soil Conserva- 31 next. always get prompt attention. When we say tion Service, for extraordinary services to the write, make your note just as informal as Government and the people of Cuba, ren- Dr. George W. Stiles, Bureau of Animal In- possible and toss it into regular messenger dered two decades ago. The award was made dustry's exnert on anaplasmosis, has retired. mail, if in Washington post office if field, — in by Cuba's National Agricultural and Indus- He served 45 years and since 1918 has been and we'll do our best to give you exceedingly trial Society. in charge of the pathological laboratory prompt service on any request we can at Denver. He is a specialist on animal diseases answer. But give name and address in full. Damon Bunyon had something to teach us that are transmissible to man, is the author about writing: Svend Riemer, of the Univer- of more than 60 articles on a variety of Plowshares Into Swords is the title of a sity of Wisconsin, discusses this fertile sub- scientific subjects, and coauthor of several book Arthur P. Chew, Office of Information, ject in a highly informative and readable way expects publications issued by Oklahoma A & M. to have published before very long. in Social Forces for May 1947 (Vol. 25, pp. It will be a full-length development of A native New Yorker, at the age of 14 he 402-05) . Better give it a look. Social Forces Chew's recent provocative series of articles hails from the University of North Carolina assisted his father in homesteading in Okla- in The Land; for instance, see Morris Llewel- Press. Author Riemer may have some re- homa. He took his bachelor's degree at lyn Cooke's and Chew's articles in the Spring prints also. Title is "Damon Runyon Oklahoma A & M and an M. D. and a Ph. D., issue of that journal. Philosopher of City Life." both at George Washington.

USDA: July 7, 1947 Farm land price conference: Announce- We can heartily recommend a gay and Flying avocados: A substantial part of ment was made May 22 of a letter dated May factually informative little book from Rut- Cuba's avocado exports to the U.S. will be 16 which the Secretary sent to a group of gers University Press, 1947, entitled "Down flown here this season; last season a fifth of persons vitally interested in farm land values, to Earth—The Pleasures & Perils of Becoming Cuba's total exports 1 here— million pounds— . calling a special Conference on Farm Land a Farmer," by Eugene S. Hahnel. was flown from Havana to Miami in a 1-hour Values at DSDA, June 9, to discuss the rapid shuttle service. Spoilage is reduced, the The Egg and . . . Dr. Byerly: Dr. T. C. rise in selling prices of farm land (see release pears arrive fresher, aviation flies on. 1123 for the letter and list of persons) . Land Byerly and his colleagues at Agricultural Re- Fever is the title of the Secretary's talk before search Center have converged on the egg. By Feeding value neic-type the conference. It is graphic, readable, makes selective breeding they now can control the of cottonseed cake: The first report full u und homely illustrations, and number of eggs hens lay, the porosity of the on the feeding value of contains much information with which you shells, the thickness of the whites, the av- cottonseed cake made by the new solvent should be familiar (release 1269). Resolu- erage egg size, its vitamin content and shell method of extraction (see USDA for April 28-May 12) comes tions adopted at the conference are in release strength, and its yolk color, through a wide from D. A. Savage, Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural No. 1283. Get these releases by writing to range of yellows, though, as yet, no violets Engineering, who is in charge of range and Press Service, or phoning Ext. 6114. or greens! Better-keeping eggs and im- proved disease resistance in hens make rapid forage work at our Southern Great Plains Field Station, Woodward, Okla. Savage and Accomplishment : Accomplishment requires gains. In fact, eggs that are too big to fit his associates more than brains, versatility, and a rich en- snugly into standard egg cartons have al- have recently completed a 2-year study dowment of capabilities. Drive, self-disci- ready become a problem. comparing the feeding valu cakes pline, and organization are indispensable in- made by the new method with that of standard hydraulic-extracted gredients of a success formula, regardless of Fly-free barns at Beltsville seem almost a material, using both products as supplementary what you undertake. You have only so much miracle to one who, like the writer, formerly feed for beef cattle on native range. time and so much energy. If you elect to worked in and around the same barns when Results show the two have about the squander an undue proportion on recreation, hordes of flies were ineradicable. However same feeding value when processed to social activities, hobbies, or diversions, or spraying with has put an end to the pest. the same protein DDT content. if you scatter your efforts over too wide a Not a fly is to be seen. Even some weeks or field, insufficient remains to insure achieve- months after spraying, the walls are lethal to yeast makes vdtamin: ment of your primary objectives. These flies. To get the full impact of this a person a Workers at the gifted people you meet every now and then has to have worked out there in the old days Northern Regional Research Laboratory have who have never gotten anywhere lack drive, when the fly was master. taught a yeast named Ashbya gossypii to self-discipline, and organization. But a per- make the vitamin, riboflavin. The process has commercial son may go mighty far on mighty little gray "The farmer's a realist": That's what Rol- possibilities. Young, vigor ous yeast cells do the best; cells matter, limited gifts, and few aptitudes, if and B. Smith, ex-farmer, says in his "10 job senile 5 days old can scarcely he uses the essential drive to get the most Reminders for Advertising to Farmers," do it at all. out of his meager talents. Printers' Ink, April 11. The farmer wants factual, detailed, believable copy. Don't An apple tree 20 to 25 years old, producing Bossy goes boozy: By finding a yeast that waste space on compliments; load it up with 600 pounds of fruit per year, requires about ferments lactose, or milk sugar, almost com- ] facts and, at all costs, avoid technical er- I 2 pounds of nitrogen annually to do the pletely to alcohol in 55 hours. M. Rogosa and rors. Better give the article a look if you Job, of which half goes back into the soil in E. Whittier, Bureau of Dairy Industry, O." want to know more about the farmer mind. the form of fallen blossoms and leaves. That have evolved a practical method of making One key point—find the best farmer, sell means 6 pounds of nitrate of soda, or 5 of alcohol from waste whey from casein and him first, and let him act as extension ammonium sulfate, or 3 of ammonium ni- cheese plants, in part using waste steam worker for you may have special practical trate. But. if the sod is heavy, more nitrogen purposes. — from these same plants for heating is value for you . . . and possibly the whole needed because the grass roots pick up Or the whey can be transported and economi- article will. Other pointers: Use good gram- some; the heavier the rains, the deeper the cally transformed into alcohol in plants at a mar, use plenty of photographs, answer in nitrogen penetrates the soil and the harder distance. Whey protein and slops left after advance arguments his neighbor will have the leaves have to pump to get it out! Apple- the process make an excellent cattle feed. against the purchase, and remember farmers tree roots take up little nitrogen during the Thus a former waste product, difficult to dis- aren't easily fooled. Above all, no dialect, dormant season. Finally, the higher the pose of, becomes the source of valuable com- please. nitrogen content of fruit and foliage the modities. poorer the color, especially in the East, but sufficient must be used the Efficiency on Vie farm: Says Assistant Bureau of Agricultural Economics reports: or trees suffer. are indebted to Dr. R. Chief Sherman E. Johnson, of Bureau of That increased production of farm machin- We John Magness for these facts. Get release Agricultural Economics: "Farmers use less ery and availability of agricultural workers No. 1163 from Press Service write, or than two-thirds as much labor per unit of now tend to ease the demand for unskilled — phone Ext. 6114—for more detail. product today as they did in 1920. In 1945 white and colored farm hands, though the one hour of work resulted, on the average, in demand for skilled labor will remain heavy. about one-third more milk, one-half more That we now eat more meat, poultry, fish, Something is being done about the weather: vegetables, fruits, eggs, and dairy products Years ago the Weather Bureau, when in corn, and 2' 2 times as much wheat as in 1920. Each farm worker today handles more (except butter) than before the war; less USDA, tried to produce rain by firing cannon acres in cropland, and produces more crops grain products, sugar, sirup, fats, and oils; into clouds. Now scientists fly up into the and livestock than in 1920." Further im- about the same quantities of beans, potatoes, clouds to bombard them with pellets of solid provement in efficiency seems feasible. In cocoa, tea, and coffee. That increased use carbon dioxide, and snow or rain falls. Dur- Nov.- Zealand one man milks and cares for as of cigarettes by old smokers, and the addi- ing the war the fog was burned away from many as 70 cows and does all the routine tion of new smokers in large numbers has British airfields by ignition of 6.000 gallons farm work besides, and the average butterfat considerably enlarged the farmers' markets; of gasoline per bomber landed. War inspired output per unit of labor increased about 60 we produced enough cigarettes during the weather-makers more effectively than did percent from 1915 to 1940. Man-labor per past 5 years to belt the earth 2,500 times, if agricultural needs. What lies ahead in the 100 pounds of milk ou

4 U. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OfFICEr 19*7 —

trial processes are indicated. We never SHARE THIS COPY even thought of that years ago when we helped make pure xylose from corncobs and arabinose from cottonseed hulls, just to show it could be done, for these 5-carbon sugars then seemed to be mere chemical curiosities.

Food in Britain

« . A FRIEND, a newspaperwoman, writes FOR JULY 21, 1947 from London:

How Britishers survive I'll never know. >wyvww^wv^

753819°—47 — —".

ranges of the U.S. His writings—a hun- dred or more monographs, articles, Catering to the Words books—attest the value of such explora- LONG AGO Francis discerned tions. The Department does not wholly azaleas' appetite Bacon that the great and solemn lose Dr. Lowdermilk, for he has been disputations MOST plants and flowers all that we of the learned were in appointed a collaborator and will con- — the main contro- have met personally at least know what versies about words. tinue to provide Agriculture with con- — Today we may ar- they want to eat and how much, and you gue whether a condition sultant services. caused by nu- just better pay strict attention to their tritional deficiency is pellagra, pellagra- whims, for they are whims of iron, at like, or canine black tongue, without

least in azaleas. Studies by our Dr. Neil defining any one term as definitely it as . Tourist bait Stuart, Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, should be defined. Since definitions and Agricultural Engineering, indicate themselves are words, words constantly REMEMBER the greenhouses on the that azaleas pine into nutritional defi- beget words, and, as Hobbes had it in his roof of the South Building of the Depart- ciency when iron is lacking. Moreover Leviathan, "Words are wise men's coun- ment in Washington, D. C? They were the azalea is very particular about its ters, they do but reckon with them; but almost directly over the office rooms we iron. You can't feed it pork chops and they are the money of fools." once occupied. We recall these green- get it full of pig iron. Is a filter-passing substance—a virus houses being referred to as "tourist Seriously: The azalea will not make living or not? We cannot say definitely, bait," constructed, so it was said, merely use of iron in an alkaline soil. Further- because we have not decided upon the as a stunt to get the Department's work more the iron must be teamed up with exact group of qualities or characteris- talked about. Even from this angle, we other plant nutrients, like potassium, tics that, in our opinion, add up to life thought they were an excellent invest- calcium, and magnesium, before the or to nonlife. Living and nonliving, ment. It turns out, however, that these azalea can benefit from it. Deficiencies crystalline and noncrystalline, organic greenhouses more than justified their of even these other minerals show up as and inorganic, are all undefined oppo- cost; they produced one dividend that iron trouble in the azalea. The leaves sites which merge into one another by alone will return the taxpayer's invest- turn yellow, bronze, and curl inward subtle gradations. It is a matter of con- ment in the greenhouses a thousandfold. when potassium is deficient; terminal venience for science to have such terms, The greenhouses are gone. They were growth stops. Magnesium deficiency yet they are ill defined. J. B. S. Haldane moved out, or off, some time ago. Much has remarked that protoplasm is a mere produces other leaf troubles—yellowing, of the work that would have been done in repository for ignorance, as no one knows followed by the appearance of brown them is now being carried on in the what it is. To analyze it is to deprive dead areas on tips and margins of lower greenhouses of the Plant Industry Sta- it of the life quality which makes it leaves, which soon break off. Rooted cut- tion at Beltsville, Md. The roof green- protoplasm. tings grow slowly through lack of phos- houses are gone, but their memory lin- So it is very hard to know what we are phorus; they have dull-green leaves gers on. It will linger long because in talking about under the best of condi- which finally turn dark and drop. Lack one of them, some 10 years ago, J. Allen tions. This difficulty has been enhanced Clark, of the Division of Cereal Crops and of manganese produces .leaf yellowing by the extreme specialization of science, Diseases, Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, less extreme in character than that which now enables two groups of re- and Agricultural Engineering, made a caused by iron deficiency. search workers in two separate rooms to cross between the Merit and the Nitrogen-starved azaleas have a discuss precisely the same phenomena in Thatcher varieties of wheat. The re- ragged, uneven appearance, are stunted, languages so different that one group sulting hybrid has been named the with small, pale-green leaves, the lower cannot comprehend the other. As early

. 1927 observer declared that, at the Cadet, and is being introduced into com- leaves turning yellow or red, then falling. as an Leeds meeting of the British Association mercial culture by the Department, in Moreover the azalea likes its nitrogen in for the Advancement of .Science, the cooperation with the North Dakota the form of ammonium sulfate, which papers presented were so specialized, and Agricultural Experiment Station. renders the soil acid, thus making iron so garbed in wicked terminology, as to Cadet is a new hard red spring wheat, available to it. Calcium and sodium render them comprehensible only to a outstanding in yield, quality, and disease nitrate are not relished by azaleas, be- limited number of those in the particu- resistance. That's no guess. Cadet cause the plant leaves the minerals be- lar section before which they were de- wheat has already proved itself in in the soil after absorbing the com- hind livered. Said Nature, of London: parative tests at more than a score of nitrogen, this produces soil alkalinity, There would be little occasion for lengthy stations in eight States. It has out- interferes with iron absorption, produces comment were It only the youthful aspirants for scientific honors asainst whom tlvs - yielded other beardless wheats and com- iron chlorosis. To have a beautiful gar- charge of obscurity could be brought. We pares favorably with all other varieties den you must know the whims of your could rely upon time to purge them of the conceit of demonstrating familiarity with of hard red spring wheat in plants flowers, and them. resistance and humor their newly acquired forms of expression In to stem and leaf rusts. And it is 2 to 4 order to win a reputation for erudition. Unfortunately, some of the addresses de- days later than most of the other awnless Arc you in a quandary? Would you be livered by sectional heads at Leeds exhibited varieties—meaning that it's a good bet aware of It If you were? While the book by the same weakness. From the point of view Wendall Johnson, University of Iowa Psycho- of title, subject matter, and form of presen- for the northern part of the Wheat logical and Speech Clinic, entitled "People in tation they were alike calculated to produce Belt. John A. Ferrall, PISAE, retired. Quandaries—The Semantics of Personal Ad- In many members of the association a feel- justment," contains a rather odd admixture ing of bewilderment! The advancement of of subject matter, you will be bound to find science depends upon the encouragement of something therein to Interest and instruct research. The public must be better In- Misx Helen W. Aticatcr, retired editor of the you, whether you are Just a common run-of- formed If It is to appreciate to the full the Journal of Home Economics and daughter of the-mill employee or a supervisor. The book need for more and more research. It will W. O. Atwater, pioneer U.S. and USDA nutri- was published by Harper & Bro.—Is available not willingly endow what It cannot under- tion scientist, died June 25. from libraries and bookstores. stand. '

USDA: July 21, 1947 — ,

That is as true here as in Britain, as E. L. Patton has succeeded I. E. Knapp as Silage: Research Achievement Sheet 76 (D) head of the Naval Stores Research Division, procurable from the Agricultural Research Congress of it is of true of informing Bureau of Agricultural and Industrial Chem- Administration, tells about the method T. E. Parliament or members of the lay public istry, the latter having entered private em- Woodward and J. B. Shepherd, of Bureau ployment in the wood naval stores industry. of Dairy Industry, devised for making good anywhere. Possibly had scientists suf- r Colonel Patton has been associated with AIC silage from grasses and legumes by wilting ficiently understood one another we since 1933, at Olustee, Fla., except for 4 years them to 58-68 percent water content, instead might have been spared the rigors and he spent in the armed forces, rising from of using mineral acids or fermentable carbo- captain in Army Ordnance in 1941 to colonel hydrates which produce acids to prevent tenuous blessings of two world wars. on his discharged in 1946. A native of spoilage. This achievement cost about Georgia, he took his bachelor's degree in $44,000 and is worth $750,000 a year to farm- chemical engineering from Georgia School of ers, at a low estimate. Technology. He is now located in New Orleans. Brief but important Migratory appetite: That's an apt descrip- What's Left in the Leaves: A story of the tion of the Mormon cricket which eats its vegetable carried our own weight in food a day, as compared with The Secretary's statement before the Sub- work on wastes, on at Eastern Regional Laboratory near a beef animal, which takes 7-8 days to con- committee of the Senate Committee on Ap- Research Philadelphia, this title sume its own weight of grass. In fact, under propriations, in regard to the USDA Appro- will be found under in The Progressive, Madison, Wis., for June good conditions, an adult grasshopper can priations Bill for 1948, was made June 12, and 16, page 9. From the valuable food elements eat its own weight in 16 and a Mormon should be read by all who want to inform found by the chemists in these wastes from cricket can do the same in 18 hours ! Imagine themselves on matters of basic policy. It is a 225-pound man doing that, if admirably prepared and makes easy reading. vegetable growing, marketing, and processing, you can. it sometimes seems if the That is why bait of bran mash, thoughtfully Procure from Press Service by mail or by as we throw away more nutritious parts of the plants poisoned with sodium fluosilicate, is served phoning Ext. 6114; ask for No. 1293. and then eat the remainder! to grasshoppers and Mormon crickets in wholesale lots. Farmers just can't have their wheat, alfalfa, sugar beets, garden crops, Dr. David Fairchild's latest book has al- and A singularly durable coating for wood, range-land ready been mentioned once herein, but that grasses carried away by a migra- highly resistant to wear, hot oils, and heat, tory appetite. was announcement. Having read it, a mere has been developed from ordinary table sugar, we now pronounce it gracious, urbane, highly or sucrose, by P. L. Nichols, Jr., and E. Yan- informal, instructive, and entertaining, Federal lands: Of the 1,905 million acres of ovsky, of the Eastern Regional Research which is about all you could expect of a book. land in the U.S., 560 million acres are in Laboratory. As prepared it is a heavy, light- The author really converses with the reader, public ownership, 458 million being owned yellow liquid which, when exposed to air or leads him away from the typewriter to look federally. At various times the Federal Gov- oxygen, particularly at elevated tempera- at some vine or tree, returns with him to the ernment acquired 1,442 million acres of tures, increases in density and viscosity, and study and continues the conversation. Pull public domain land; it disposed of all but finally hardens into an insoluble, infusible, title of the book, "The World Grows Round 412 million for land settlement, internal de- transparent resin. Properly cured films of it My Door, the Story of the Kampong, A Home velopment, and as a source of revenue. In are Insoluble in all organic solvents so far on the Edge of the Tropics"; published by addition to the public domain the Federal tested. coating possesses high gloss Scribner's; available at libraries and book The and Government acquired some 50 million acres extreme hardness, yet sufficient flexibility to stores. The USDA Library has copies. between 1925-40, by purchase, gift, and its usefulness. Its transparency sug- expand similar processes, and during World War II it gests use as an adhesive for glass. The coat- bought 7 million acres for military purposes, David B. Godwin, Forest Service's Chief of ing and impregnation of paper, textiles, and of which 1.5 million have been declared sur- other materials grease proofing Fire Control, was a victim, of the Virginia for water and plus and are in process of disposal. There and increase of their tensile strength are plane disaster on Black Friday, June 13. A never was any public domain in the original native of Virginia, Godwin joined FS before distinct possibilities. Thus an entire new 13 States or in Texas. The great bulk of field of research opens on the industrial World War I, left it to serve with the Army Federal land is now in 11 Western States. engineers, graduated from the Army General utilization of sucrose and its derivatives. For more detail see Status of Federal Lands, Staff School and its School of the Line later, an article by V. Webster Johnson, in the and worked several years as a labor relations August Journal of Farm Economics. At long last quackgrass is on the skids: adviser for a York textile firm. He then New Unfortuniately 2,4-D does not control the returned to FS, and during World War was H weed grasses, but during World War II its principal liaison man with the military That Newton apple tree: Apropos of the British scientists found that isopropyl-N- services. He directed 200, 000 volunteers in mention in May 26-June 9 USDA of the item phenyl carbamate (IPC for short) killed aircraft warning service and 100,000 troops in in Cornell Plantations about the tree from some members of the grass family, but was plane spotting and fire fighting. pio- which the apple dropped upon the head of He noninjurious to broadleaved plants such as neered in developing FS's smoke-jumping Sir Isaac Newton, proving to him conclusively 2.4-D kills. This led to work at our Plant corps of parachutists. He been out a the existence of the law of gravitation, we had on Industry Station, which indicates that IPC field inspection trip. are able to add the information that the will eradicate auackgrass. The chemical Plant Industry Station at Beltsville, Md„ has seems to be absorbed through the roots; ap- received through Ross Pier Wright, Chairman plications to the soil are better than to the O. E. Reed honored: The Lafayette, Ind., of the Pennsylvania Historical Commission, leaves. IPC can be purchased at some chemi- grafted is Journal and Courier, for June 14, reported a tree that a direct descendant of cal supply houses, but if you are bound on Purdue University honors for a distinguished the original Newton tree. (National Horticul- experimentation, first get press release No. group including the Chief of the Bureau of tural Magazine, 22:1, 114, 1943.) This tree 1374 from Press Service—write in, or in Wash- has Dairy Industry, described as "one of the best been planted temporarily in a nursery ington phone Ext. 6114—and read it carefully. row until a planting plan is approved. known dairy educators in the U. S." Mr. With Reed, who formerly headed the dairy depart- an opportunity to sit and ponder beneath the branches of such a tree, we may con- ment at Purdue, was granted a doctor of Price-support programs: The following fidently look forward to even more epoch- science degree for his achievements in his press releases may be of interest to you: making discoveries by the scientists at Belts- chosen field. No. 1358 on the 1947 price-support purchase ville. John A. Ferrall, PISAE, retired. agreement, purchase, and loan program for oats; No. 1361, the 1947 price-support pur- Federal Crop Insurance Corporation: Sec- chase and loan program for grain sorghums; f retary's Memorandum No. 1196, June Government efficiency—Farmers 26, and No. 1359, the price-support program for Home transferred FCIC from Production and Mar- 1947 crop wheat. Procure from Press Service Administration department: "You can talk keting Administration established it all inefficiency, and as by mail; in Washington phone Ext. 6114. you want about Government - a separate organizational entity in the De- but you ought to see how the FHA filing partment. This order became effective July system operates. Smith Black was looking 1. Procure the memorandum from the Sec- Magic farm technology: According to for a paper in his file today; finally gave up, retary's Records Section if you need details. Reuben W. Hecht, of the Bureau of Agricul- and in despair asked the 'new girl' in his tural Economics, it took only 21 billion hours office, who, trained in Government filing of labor to achieve the current year's farm methods, was spending her first day in his Plant food materials: Secretary Anderson's production, but with 1920 methods, tools, office. We were amazed to see her select the address before the American Plant Food crop varieties, and livestock practices, right drawer out of probably 20 with unerr- Council, June 14, contains useful facts re- farmers would have had to put in 30 billion ing accuracy, riffle through the contents once garding organized agricultural abundance, hours of work. Such is the magic of modern lightly; jerk out the proper paper in less \ world nitrogen supplies, the use of plant food farm technology. Farmers now produce a than a total of 10 seconds time. The 'new materials to combat world hunger and to third more than in World War I, in about girl' was Mrs. Iva Jewell Truitt, of Fulton. conserve and improve the soil, increases in 10 percent less time, while the work is leveled And she'd never been in the office before! A - yields when fertilizers are properly used, and out, much more evenly divided among the That's the Mexico (Mo.) brand of Govern- so on. Procure from Press Service by mail seasons. For details see the lead article in ment inefficiency." (Mexico (Mo.) Evening or phone (Ext. 6114) ; ask for No. 1309. June Agricultural Situation. Ledger, June 5.)

USDA: July 21, 1947 —

Public lands controversy: Proposals by a J. A. Evans, formerly associate chief of the Important Recent Achievements of Depart- group of western livestock men to get ex- Office of Cooperative Extension Work, and ment of Agriculture Scientists: The July 1 clusive use of federally owned grazing lands one of the first field agents appointed by Issue of this, our USDA Document No. 6, has through transfer of ownership, or greater Seaman A. Knapp, founder of Extension somewhat belatedly appeared, full of infor- control for themselves through restrictions Service, died in Washington June 22, aged 84. mation helpful to you, to magazine editors ~; in present authority of Federal agencies to An Illinois farm boy who attended University and writers, and to citizens generally. We 1 administer grazing on these lands, have pre- of Missouri, he retired from Federal service regret that two or three agencies had nothing .*; cipitated a hot controversy in recent months. December 31, 1933, but served as assistant to new to crow about, but the others provided J The proposals reflect, among other things, the Director of the Georgia State Extension a fine assortment of fresh items. Please write resentment of some livestock men against Service, 1934-^tl. (Instead of phoning) the most informal note reductions in numbers of stock allowed to possible that we can read, saying you want graze under permit on the National Forests. No. 6. Address T. Swann Harding." Office of Forest Service made these reductions to pro- C. B. Hodges, Associate Director, Field Information, Department of Agriculture, tect watersheds and allow overgrazed ranges Service Branch, and Deputy Administrator, Washington 25. D. C. to recover. The livestock group has accused Production and Marketing Administration, FS of arbitrary and dictatorial methods in died suddenly in his South Building office In handling grazing permits. The Izaak Walton Washington on June 24, aged 46. A native Drought, Its Causes and Effects, by Ivan League, American Forestry Association, and of Ector, Tex., and a graduate of the Univer- Ray Tannehill, Princeton University Press many other conservation, water use, and sity of Texas, Mr. Hodges was on the history (Library has copies) is an extremely read- civic organizations have risen to the defense faculty of this institution for some years. able book full of weather of FS' grazing policies. A subcommittee of He later became connected with the War lore, scientific meteorology, and novel theories the House Public Lands Committee is in- about Food Administration in Dallas and Austin, droughts. vestigating FS range administration and and, In April 1946, was called to his assign- plans to hold hearings this summer at several ment in Washington, after having been State noints in the West. Director of FSB, PMA, since August 1944. Japanese beetle: The New York Herald (See also last column, 4, for p. USDA May Tribune ran an editorial In Its issue of Julv 26-June 9.) 1 1 with reference to the annual resurgence of Promising new drug reported: The new the Japanese beetle, and entitled "Beetle drug, gramacidln, be as important to may J. P. Schaenzer, head of the electro-agri- Tourist Season Opens." It told how the am- surface medication as penicillin is to in- culture section of Rural Electrification Ad- bitious insect is well aware of the value of ternal treatment. It is indicated in new re- ministration's Technical Standards Division, air transport in getting around a land so search at California Medical School, in col- was recently elected chairman of the Wash- much larger than its original home. It re- laboration with the Western Regional USDA ington Section of the American Society of marked also on five girls employed bv the Research Laboratory, Albany, Calif. modi- A Agricultural Engineers. He succeeds A. T. Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine fication of gramacidin, soluble in water, Holman, of the Bureau of Plant Industry, at La Guardia Field, to serve as inspectors weak enough to cause no toxicity and yet Soils, and Agricultural Engineering. Mr. and beetle stoppers. They were said to be strong enough to kill bacteria, was devised Schaenzer, who has also served as chairman especially adept In discovering the insects by laboratory workers and tested by Cali- and vice chairman of the Farm Electrification when "attached to the back of a garbardine fornia University. In its original form, the Division of the ASAE, is a recognized author- suit or iridescently ornamenting a wash new drug proved too toxic for use and de- ity on the use of electricity on the farm and frock." The editorial also observed that "any stroyed red blood corpuscles, while it was in the home. As Project Director of Rural touring beetle finding itself getting beyond hard to dissolve it in water. There is yet no Electrification at the University of Wisconsin, old Bennington (Vt.) will doubtless turn indication, the California report says, that he taught one of the first special college back under Its own power, heading for Vine- gramacidln causes severe systemic reactions courses on rural electrification, and is the land, N. J., or the floral sustenance of after repeated use. Bucks author of the first textbook on this subject, County, Pa." a book still a standard text in this field. In his present position, he Is REA's liaison be- Science gleanings: The following releases, tween various research groups on the one Dan Braum, Office of Personnel, is on an available from Press Service—write in, or hand and equipment manufacturers on the official trip in Scandinavia. During the week phone Ext. 6114 of —may interest you: No. 1382 other, expediting the Job of getting the find- June 9-13 he spent a period working with reviews work scientists by USDA on the re- ings of research men incorporated into the Dr. Henri Dey Farth. Oslo, Norway, on mus- covery of a valuable hard wax from sugar- cular electrical equipment which rolls off indus- pain resulting from accumulated fa- cane filter press cake; No. 1404 reviews prog- trial assemblv lines. tigue, along the line of research being con- ress in the field of synthetic fibers other than ducted by Dr. Farth, who is especially inter- rayon, including cellulosic. glass, resin, and ested in the study of typewriter heights and 14"6 casein fibers- No. describes how airplanes the proper position for tvping as affecting Abridged List of Federal Laws Applicable the sprayed 387.000 Idaho forest acres (three muscles of the typist. times the land surface of Rhode Island) with to Agriculture _• This, our USDA Document No. DDT to save 60 million dollars worth of tim- 2, also contains references to former USDA ber from destruction by tussock moths, for functions. The Office of the Solicitor has insects do more forest damage than forest just brought it up to date. Please write (in- Iowa State College announces that It has fires; No. 1414 reports two new insecticides stead of phoning) the most informal note honored C. F. Curtiss, dean emeritus of agri- benzene hexachlorlde (alone and with DDT} possible that we can read, saying you want culture, by renaming after him Agricultural and chlorinated camphene—for control of No. 2. Address T. Swann Harding, Office of Hall, built in 1909, and Anson Marston, dean cotton pests are being tested on a large scale Information. Department of Agriculture, of engineering, by naming after him Engi- in fields this season. Washington 25, D. C. neering Hall, completed in 1903.

The agricultural engineers: Lou Childers, ' Information activities of the Department of Special Cereals Conference: This conference of Plant Industry Station, Beltsville, Md., Agriculture: The Summer issue of Public recently sent was convened in Paris, having been called by us interesting Information on Opinion Quarterly (Princeton, N. J.) Is sched- the Food and Agriculture Organization - the following topics, which we lack space to at uled to contain a complete historical exposi- the request of the International Emergency reproduce here, but about which he can tell tion of the Informational activities of USDA Food Council. Secretary you more If you write Anderson made an him: A new mechani- from their inception in the Patent Office, cal method of handling cottonseed important policy statement there on Julv 9. with small when It was in the Department of State, up air pipes, If you want to read it, write or phone (Ext. designed to keep them pure and un- to date. contamlnated; a new type slatted-floor hay 6114) Press Service, and ask for No. 1480. drier, cheap to Install, effective in operation; and some extremely valuable material on August 4 will be an important date in soil methods of scientific apple storage which conservation: It is the tenth anniversary of effect faster and more uniform fruit cooling organization of the first soil conservation on a new so-called "reversed air" principle. district In the U. S.—which means in the July 21, 1947 Vol. VI, No. 15 world. The first was the Brown Creek Soil Conservation District in Anson County, N. C. USDA is published fortnightly for distri- The Research and Marketing Act Com- Anson is the home county of Dr. Hugh H. bution to employees only, by direction of mittees, plus other background information, Bennett, Soil Conservation Service chief, the Secretary of Agriculture and with the will be found listed in release No. 1342. avail- whose agency gives technical and certain approval of the Director of the Budget, as able from Press Service; field workers write other assistance to these districts. Farmers containing administrative Information re- In, Washington workers phone Ext. 6114. and ranchers so far have voted nearly 1.900 quired for proper transaction of the public soil conservation districts under State en- business. abling laws, Including almost three-fourths Address correspondence to Editor of USDA, How to Make Yoghurt: Get your copy now. of all the farms in the country. They are Office of Information, U. S. Department of It's a processed publication by L. A. Burkey, distributed among all 48 states and Puerto Agriculture, Washington 25, D. C. Washing- Bureau of Dairy Industry, revised May 1947. Rico. Alaska. Hawaii, and the Virgin Islands ton employees phone 4842 or 4875 on editorial Apply to BDI Information, phone Ext. 2360. also have passed districts legislation recently. matters; 3185 on distribution.

4 O. S. GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: H47 / SHARE THIS COPY Plant Industry Station

THIS is the country seat of the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering, at Beltsville, Md. You may want to go out there sometime; you may i want to find things quickly. We recom- *' "• ? a brochure Visi- > mend new entitled "A tor's Booklet," dated May 1947, prepared 2 -?---- . by Marguerite Gilstrap, and designed to "

2 USDA: August 4, 1947 — — It seeks to explain statistical research He was kind enough to leave us two or Wasteful America: in the United states forests 188,500,000 tons of wood are cut an- and related developments so simply that three items when he picked up his hat nually for lumber, pulp, and paper, and other even statistical illiterates, like the writer and retired to the California sunshine, commercial products. Of that, 57 percent is wasted or burned for fuel—108,900,000 tons. rof these lines, can get the hang of it, where we do so sincerely wish him long Yet national demands are not met nor can Some USDA people are already on the life, good health, and happiness un- our forests, in their present condition, long sustain this terrific enor- mailing list to get it; others will be listed adulterated.—Editor of USDA.) drain. Part of this mous waste can and should be converted into gladly. To secure Statlab Review, ad- products required to satisfy human needs. dress Joseph C. Dodson, Statistical Lab- For more details, procure Wood Waste in the United States, issued oratory, Iowa State College, Ames, Iowa. by Forest Service, June Brief but important 26.

Fire! USDA agencies suffered a fire loss of Wanna grow four-leaf clovers and be lucky over during 1945-46 fiscal year, It's a chestnut now $76,000 the all the time? Where one four-leaf clover is there having been 90 fires, 18 of them disas- found, others grow nearby, because clover trous and costing more than $1,000 each; spreads by throwing out creeping stems "WOODMAN, spare that tree, touch not there were also 2 fatalities and 10 nonfatal which root at the nodes—joints of stems to a single bough," was written of the sturdy injuries. The large number of fires caused us ordinary people. But the plants compli- by smoking or by the boiling over of pots on cate things by varying their leaflet numbers oak—but it's a chestnut now! And a kerosene stoves, especially at labor centers, from three clear up to seven, at times, yet Chinese chestnut at that. Yes, we bring is impressive. But faulty wiring especially if you plant cuttings from a clover with and electricity generally caused the most .you the cheerful news that there are many groups of four leaves you can grow expensive of the fires. a much more than usual number of lucky blight-resistant Chinese chestnut trees leaves in your—patch. Cut pieces with at able and willing to take the place of the Germ-killer in bran: Harry Humfeld, of our least two nodes 'er, joints that is—and plant American sorts that have fallen victims Western Regional Research Laboratory, re- in fertile, well-drained, moist soil. Do you ports finding in bran a fraction that has want to go to all that trouble to be lucky? the blight disease. The nuts are good to antibiotic properties. It has some character- Our scientists have not so far produced lines eating, fully as sweet as our dear de- istics of a fatty acid and forms a water-solu- of extra-leaflet clover from seed. Indeed what we have just said is about all they will parted American sorts; some of them ble potassium salt or soap which has a com- paratively high activity against Staphyloc- say on the subject. larger and more attractive in appearance. cus aureus, Micrococcus conglomeratus, and The trees will grow well throughout the Streptococcus faecalis, though it is inactive against Escherichia coli. Humfeld suggests Willard ("Doc") Lamphere has left the old the chestnut, and range of American that, when materials of plant or animal ori- Department to become Assistant Director, even farther southward, toward the Gulf gin containing fats or fatty acid constituents Department of Agricultural and Mineral De- are used in microbiological studies, the pos- velopment, Great Northern Railway Co., with Coast. They do well, also, in certain sibility that some of these constituents may headquarters at St. Paul. Mr. Lamphere valleys and foothills of California. be antibiotics should be considered in order came to Washington in March 1939 to serve Time was, of course, when we had not to confuse their activity with that of as Assistant Chief, Regional Contact Section, micro-organisms. Division of Information, AAA. He has since fine chestnuts plenty of American served as Chief, Regional Contact Section, Di- throughout much of the East. "Gone, all Paul H. Appleby has two interesting articles vision of Information, AAA, and lastly, As- sistant Director, Information gone, the old familiar faces." Well, al- in the spring issue of Public Administration Service, Pro- Review, one entitled "Harold D. Smith duction and Marketing Administration, in most; and chestnut blight threatens to Public Administrator" and the other "To- charge of informational work for Field Serv- take the few remaining trees before very ward Better Public Administration," an ad- ice Branch and Federal crop insurance. He dress he earlier in Washington, D. C. reported for his new duties in St. Paul, long. Stark skeletons of some of them made July 1. still stand in certain forests, and they Harry Dechant, USDA regional attorney at are still felled and processed for tannin. San Francisco, retired June 30. Mr. Dechant, Farm accidents: One person was injured When we had plenty of good American who is referred to as "dean of regional at- during the last quarter of 1946, for every 28 torneys," has been with the Solicitor's Office farms included in a sample survey made in chestnuts, we were, quite logically, not in San Francisco since March 1910. He re- January 1947 by the Bureau of Agricultural much interested in foreign sorts. For- ceived a B. A. from the University of Cin- Economics. The survey included about 15,- 000 farms in 814 counties. The figures tunately, in 1906, the Department did cinnati in 1904, and was graduated from Cin- thus cinnati Law School in 1906. Following grad- obtained are the most complete yet available bring in some seed nuts from China. uation, he was with the Cincinnati City So- on farm accidents. If the farms included in Planting these and growing the seedlings, licitor's Office, and in the private practice of the survey were typical of the entire country, law for several years before he entered Forest the results would indicate that from October discovered of we that some them were Service, where he remained until he became through December there were roughly 210,- very much worth while. Still, we had attached to the Office of the Solicitor in 000 accidents that injured people living or Dechant will devote his time to working on farms; that the injuries cost good chestnuts of our own; we couldn't 1910. Mr. a the operation of his walnut ranch in Lake total of $8,750,000 for medical, dental, and work up much excitement over these County, Calif. He is identified with much of hospital expenses; and that the time lost Chinese. Then chestnut blight moved in. the litigation which established the basic from usual activities total 4% million days. principles upon which the national forests Almost overnight the American chestnut and other public lands are being managed. trees were doomed. Interest in the International Cereal Conference: The Sec- retary, his executive assistant, Nathan Koe- Chinese blight-resistant trees zoomed. in Capillary Fragility is an editorial Rutin nig, Jesse Gilmer, Administrator, and Ralph in the British Medical Journal for May Now we are well on the way to the crea- note Trigg, Deputy Administrator, Production and which reviews rutin from the time in 1936 31, Marketing Administration, among others, at- tion of a new chestnut industry based on prepared his citrin from when Szent-Gyorgyi tended this Paris conference. these Asiatic varieties. It will be some lemons and paprika. Citrin seemed to re- store normal capillary fragility in guinea time, of course, before you can get strictly pigs, but the active compound in it, called Farm clothing bill: Last year farmers spent first-class trees; and planting run-of- vitamin P by some, was never isolated. The an average of $270 each on clothing for them- note tells of clinical tests made on rutin from the-mill seedlings is apt to be a dis- selves and families, twice that spent in 1941, buckwheat in this country and winds up: the total bill running 1.6 billion dollars, and couraging experience. But the better "It is worth noting that the rutin used by farmers spending 1 out of every 10 dollars are they are well worth Shanno (in the U. S.) was prepared by the sorts coming; and spent for clothing in the United States. East (sic) Regional Research Laboratory of A. Clothing expenses account waiting for. John Ferrall, PISAE, the United States Department of Agriculture for about 17 per- of total farm living costs, retired. by alcoholic percolation of buckwheat; it cent and many was not prepared by a commercial firm. articles of clothing now cost twice what they (We regret that this is the final article Rutin has been given daily for as long as did before the war. It also seems likely that by "Jack" Ferrall, our most industrious, 16 months without producing harmful farmers will spend even more for clothing in than they did in 1946, enlightening, and readable contributor. effects." 1947

USDA: August 4, 1S47 Gene jugglers: fastlnatlng Strike Prohibition: A account of Civil Service Commis- Original sources: When the writer used the scientists separated the genetic fac- sion calls how the attention to the fact that the expression "Two Blades of Grass" as title for tors in cantaloup breeding material and then Labor-Management Act of 1947 forbids strik- a history of USDA scientific achievements, put them together in precisely the way to ing by Federal Government employees. See and remarked that Isaac Newton, first Com- promote maximum resistance to powdery Sec. 305 thereof. missioner of Agriculture, had used the phrase mildew, will be in press release No. found in quotes in his first annual report, he as- 1472. Get it from Press Service (phone Ext. The School Comes to the Farmer, auto- sumed everyone knew the original source of 6114 or write in) to discover researchers fight- biography of T. M. Campbell, veteran exten- the words. But apparently few are today ing a running battle to control cantaloup educated sion field agent, will be published in Eng- in Gulliver's Travels, wherein the diseases. King land next fall, according to the publishers. of the Brobdingnags. the "bis» people." said Longmans. Green & Co., London. that "whoever could make two ear's of corn, or two blades of grass, to grow upon a Careless destroyers: A report issued by spot of ground, where only one grew before, Forest Service July 1 showed a 40 percent Ecology and engineering: Paul B. Sears, would deserve better of "mankind, and do Jump in the number of man-caused forest of Oberlin,- argues in Science for July 4 that more essential service to his country than fires last year, due in part to the fact that engineers, agricultural engineers included, the whole race of politicians put together." the Nation's forests had many more visitors need better education in biological science. The "big people" who did that in modern in 1946 than during the war years. Details Their work in highway construction, with its times were our skilled and patient workers in and statistics on forest fires will be found in direct effects on soil moisture and erosion, agricultural research. In Brobdingnag the release No. 1445, available from Press Service in stream sanitation and control, makes this wheat grew 40 feet tall! by phone (Ext. 6114) or mall. a necessity. See his article, Importance of Ecology in the Training of Engineers, for What It's Like to Work details. for Uncle Sam: You may not need to read this article by Jerry Dallas Burch, in person, reports that: The Kluttz, of the Washington Post, in Nation's foot-and-mouth disease war in Mexico has IPC and quackgrass: John W. Mitchell and Business for July, because experience may brought the enemy under apparent control, Paul C. Marth, of the Bureau of Plant Indus- have Informed you plenty. But like as not though it will take at least 2 years to com- try, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering, have there are some aspects of the Federal Govern- plete operations, and even then some mop- a technical report in Science for July 4 en- ment Jobs that have not occurred to vou and ping up may follow. Relations are excellent titled "Sensitivity of Grasses and Some Crop Jerry covers the subject completely and between the Americans and the Mexicans, Plants to Isopropyl-N-Phenyl-Carbamate." readably. who cooperate In most friendly manner. In one locality four fighting bull-ring bulls that Nomination confirmed: The Senate, had to be slaughtered caused an incident by Nick McGufpn's hog machine: Nick Is the on July 8. unanimously confirmed refusing to march Into the grave prepared fellow who worked out the ingredients re- without de- bate the nomination of Marvin for them; Instead they charged the slaughter- quired to make a hog ready for market, in- Jones, for- mer War Food Administrator, ers and put them to temporary rout. While vented a machine in which to compound judge, and Member of the House United States contributions in money will them, and produced hogs faster than any- of Representatives to be Chief Justice of the Court of top Mexico's from now on, Mexico is liberal body in the country. If you feel that a little Claims' with labor and soldiers and thus contributes humorous slant on the situation would lielp, heavily to the campaign, in kind. It looks you might like to read about him in Robert Celery mosaic: This disease can now be now as if the fight will be surely won and H. Blackburn's story, Recipe for Pork, At- prevented, not by treating the patient, but even better Mexican-United States relations lantic Monthly for July. by giving an associated plant, the wild day- cemented thereby. flower, a good dose of 2.4-D, a medicine that would be fatal to celery anyway. The mosaic George R. Dickie has been named to suc- virus lives on the day-flower, a common weed ceed Walter L. Scott as secretary of the Fed- University of Massachusetts: That's what in the Florida mucldands where celery is an eral Inter-Agency Committee on Recreation; Massachusetts State College became In May, important crop, and is transferred to* celery announcement was made July 7 by Director its third change in name since it was founded, by obliging aphids. The celery crop is main- in 1163. It has a 7c0-acre campus in Am- M. L. Wilson of Extension Service, present tained In health by spraying the weed with herst and a 3-mlllion-dollar building pro- chairman of the committee. Mr Dickie will 2,4-D. gram in progress. be employed by the National Recreation As- sociation and his services made available to Dr. E. A. Back has retired: is the Inter-Agency Committee, which is com- He a well- known authority posed of representatives of Extension and on control of Insect pests The Chemical Study of Penicillin, the first of the hcusehold Forest Ssrvices, USDA; National Park and and of stored products, chapter of a monograph on the chemistry who served USDA for 28 years, Fish and Wildlife Services, Interior; Office except for a of penicillin, to be published soon by Prince- l 1 2 -year period in 1910-12, of Education and Children's Bureau, Federal when he was Vir- ton University Press, appeared in Science for ginia State Security Agency; and Corps of Engineers, Entomologist and Entomologist June 27. The volume is being prepared under of War Department. the Virginia Agricultural Experiment Sta- supervision of the National Academy of tion. A native of Northampton, Mass., Dr. Sciences and the Office of Scientific Research Back was educated at what is now the Uni- ;nd Development. "The. Magic Porridge Mill" is the title of versity of Massachusetts, and did his first an article on the farm technological revolu- work investigating the white fly on Florida tion in the United States, to be found in the citrus. On August 1 he left for London at Springs, FAO publications: The Department of State Antioch Review (published Yellow where, with Dr. R. T. Cotton, In charge of has issued a bulletin containing the Report Ohio), summer, 1947, issue. The editor of EPQs Manhattan, Kans.. laboratory, he rep- of the United States Delegation to the Pre- USDA has a few reprints that he could be resented the Department at the international paratory Commission on World Food Pro- persuaded to part with sparingly or see the conference of specialists on infestations of posals. April 1947, and Proposals for the magazine in the Library. stored products, sponsored by FAO. Amendment of the Constitution of the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Gratitude: A reader writes: "One day way The Road Ahead for Cotton is the title of Nations. Procure for 10 cents in cash by back in the 1920's a Negro charwoman on my an address delivered in Texas. July 16. by addressing the Superintendent of Documents. floor wanted to change from night to day Assistant to the Secretary E. D. White. Pro- Government Printing Office. work. This required a letter to her superiors cure copies by writing," or phoning (Ext. and that she was afraid to write because she 6114) Press Service; ask for No. 1538. felt it must be a very superior document. As Another new wheat grows from one kernel I regularly came early to work she finally ap- in 1931 to 1,800 bushels: This is Marfed wheat, pealed to me shyly to formulate and type- a cross of a Marquis and Florence hybrid write her letter. This I gladly did. More- August 4, 1947 Vol. VI, No. 16 with Federation, made at the USDA nursery over she got the day work. Twenty years in Pullman, Wash., by O. A. Vogel, in 1931. have passed, but she never falls to speak to USDA Is published fortnightly for distri- It is highly resistant employees only, by direction of to 13 of the 25 races me every time I come within half a corridor bution to of smut, somewhat resistant to powdery mil- length of her; often her voice booms to me the Secretary of Agriculture and with the dew, mills and Director of the Budget, as bakes about like Federation, quite unexpectedly; often she is animatedly approval of the but yields better, and shares Federation's re- telling others within earshot that that's the containing administrative information re- sistance to lodging. Thus another new wheat gentleman who wrote her the letter that got quired for proper transaction of the public is created. her day work. You can see her industriously business. of at work in the fifth wing, sixth floor. South Address correspondence to Editor USDA, of Building, about every morning at 8 a. m. Office of Information, U. S. Department John Baker, former chief of USDA's Radio Never was so much sustained gratitude so Agriculture, Washington 25. D. C. Washing- Service, la now program director for WLS in freely and Joyfully offered for so little ton employees phone 4842 on editorial mat- Chicago. service." ters; 3185 on distribution.

o. ». «ovE«»«tirT nurriHS orncf . i»«7 —

tion and extension work he finds much SHARE THIS COPY room for improvement, for the Japanese have much to do in such things, though they want to learn the American way in them. The nation's principal product is more people; they materialize out of thin air even in the remoter countryside, and they have their work cut out for them for many years to come. (Random mental notes taken during an informal talk by Associate Director of In- formation R. L. Webster immediately after his return from 2 months in Japan.)

Brucellosis many. A thousand problems of this sort Secretary speaks stare the investigator in the face on IT IS wrong to regard brucellosis as a every side, many of which cannot be rare, self-limited "AT 3 P. M. on July 17 Secretary Ander- regressive, disease. It solved till other problems, seemingly dis- son, but recently returned from Europe, will continue to occur so long as infected connected, are solved. and the cereals conference in Paris, ad- food is eaten or humans make contact with infected cattle, goats, swine, sheep, . dressed his associates in the Department regarding his findings there. On the Japan or horses. The State of Iowa reported cases in in ^ platform were those who accompanied 638 1946, which three-quar- JAPAN is a land literally swarming with him—Administrator Gilmer and Deputy ters of the histories secured showed di- people, who work desperately hard Administrator Trigg, of Production and rect contact of the patient with hogs or merely to subsist. Things are tough all Marketing Administration, Colonel Har- cows before onset of the disease. Cases over and it will be a long time before ~ rison and Nathan Koenig, of the Secre- reported yearly average 4,000 for the they are anything else, for the way of the tary's staff, as well as Under Secretary United States, yet only the severe, acute transgressor is still hard. Eighty million Dodd, Assistant Secretary Brannan, and illnesses are diagnosed and reported. Japanese cling to a group of small islands Stanley Andrews, Assistant to Probably from 40,000 to 100,000 infec- , the PMA with a total land area about that of Administrator for International Food tions actually occur annually. California, 5 million of them already Supply Programs. Mortality is usually low. Cross infec- newly repatriated from Manchuria, Europe's primary need is to work out tion seems to be increasing. The annual China, Korea, and places afar in Japan's her own means of self-subsistence. loss in milk, butter, beef, veal, and pork former widespread dominions. However, the war left her on dead cen- attains a staggering calorie and high- Agriculture is primitive, holdings are ter. Innumerable interlocking factors protein total in a world short of food. small, averaging acres; fields are tiny lost their customary integration and 2% A recent study in Michigan indicated scattered intricately normal production became impossible. and among one that the average infected cow produces another, regardless of ownership. The Moreover, to start production in a par- about 2,065 less pounds of milk per lac- owners themselves live in villages, ticular sector of the economy you may tation period than a noninfected animal. less holding assist usually on arable land, small Extend that estimate to the State as a , need to another sector that is seemingly remote and irrelevant. plots here and there scattered over a whole and the total loss would be suffi- considerable locality. Many of the re- cient to supply 557,000 persons yearly; i More food production is imperative, for patriates are shoved into the hills the lost butter would supply 655,300 for ' sufficient grain simply cannot be taken up from the economies of surplus nations where their farms are rather more per- a year. In addition, the disease causes loss fully to supply relief needs as formulated. pendicular than horizontal. Every pos- a in this State of about 1,299,200 pounds of veal and 6,494,000 of beef Even if it could be taken, transportation sible square foot is cultivated, even in annually. is lacking to get it it is urban public squares and railroad rights- r where needed. Chronic cases of brucellosis in human And if there were enough transporta- of-way. beings are difficult to diagnose, for it, tion, importing countries could not pro- The people are fed tolerably well; they like tuberculosis and syphilis, appears in duce enough dollars to increase imports. are not starving, but they lack all lux- protean disguises, simulating many other Coal production in the Ruhr is directly uries. They all work terribly hard, run- conditions, psychoneurosis among them. . and immediately dependent upon the ning fast merely to remain in the same Certain signs and uniformly reliable quantity of food available for miners. place or to keep from slipping lower. diagnostic procedure are still lacking. A .. Moreover, if farmers are to get better However, they are polite to the occupa- defeatist attitude prevails toward treat- machinery and food is to be transported tion forces and seem to cherish no re- ment. Development of improved diag- * where needed, the miners must have sentment; they also appear eager to learn nostic methods waits in part upon in- more food, to mine more coal, to make "how they do it in the United States" creasing "brucellosis mindedness," but

more steel to prooduce these end results. whatever it is, they seem to believe it is "pasteurization of all dairy products re- One decision for Germany was to start done better here. mains the greatest bulwark against hu- there, to increase the miner's food. That A visit to Japan is best calculated to man infection until better methods of y will help get many activities off dead make an American extraordinarily happy control can be perfected." center. It will have wide repercussions to be a United States citizen. If he goes (Pacts from editorial on Brucellosis, Jour- nal of the American Medical throughout the U. S.-U. K. zones of Ger- to advise about agricultural Association, informa- July 5.)

756855"—47 >> ucts that be made from whey or its by- SEND US ITEMS can "The Lean Years product, lactose. Ask for BDIM-Inf-49, June Field employees especially are re- 1947. # quested to send appropriate items for THE following facts emerge from a lead- use in L'SDA. Fund shortages have for "I need a good wife" ing article in the Economist ( London) of some time made editorial field trips im- to THAT'S what an attractive girl worker possible, except at the editor's expense, June 28. Everyone expected the war and then he ran out of funds, too. But dislocate agriculture, but many thought in the Department told the editor today, he is always delighted to hear from USDA it would improve soon after the war "What I need is a good wife." Asked to field and to items that workers in the get ended. That food production did not explain this rather startling statement, can be used in USDA. You can tell the she went on: -ort of thing we use by reading the house quickly rise to meet demand is only too organ regularly. You can be reassured unhappily apparent. That occurred, in "You married men don't know what It about clearance, as we do this with your part, because the world's population in- is to work hard. You have a valet at information people in Washington. Brief creased by from 3 to 5 percent during the home who devotes her entire time to items, short articles (1 page typed double war years and, in part, because prosperity turning you out spick-and-span, so all space is the limit), and processed or printed material in which other em- has enabled many countries, like the you have to do is go to work. We single ployees might be interested are always United States, to maintain a higher di- women have to be our own valets, cook gratefully received. etetic standard than ever before. Hence, our meals, wash our clothes, clean our whereas world food production is still be- apartments or homes, after we have done Forest echoes low that of prewar years, not even a 5- a day's work down here and when you percent increase over prewar years would go home to your valet to rest. Lots of THEY are using mine detectors now to fill existing demand. us are married, too, and, instead of hav- spot metal in sawlogs, down in a Missis- Furthermore the nations of the world ing it easier, we have merely doubled our sippi sawmill, following tests and demon- help one another more than they former- responsibilities and in our out-of-hours strations by Forest Service's Southern ly did. Those with grain surpluses con- time have to keep a home for a husband Forest Experiment Station. The mill tribute to those threatened with famine. also. mostly cuts logs from worked-out naval Moreover, they do not always cut their "What's more, I think that the girls stores timber, and visual inspection own high consumption of food to help consistently come to work looking doesn't detect completely embedded others, but maintain it anyway. A high- fresher, cleaner, and neater than you metal. Each time the saw strikes metal, er standard of living is the all-around men with all of your advantages—on the time is lost, but the mine detectors either objective and it means larger consump- average. Lots of you come down towsled, flash warnings on a dial or give with an tion of food per head. Many countries in soiled shirts and unpressed clothes, unpleasant hum on earphones, to indicate pay far more attention to raising scien- and sit moodily with your feet on the the presence of metal. Savings from tific standards of nutrition among their desk half the time. I hope it's only the increased output and averted damage to own people than they ever did before, single men who do that, and it's even a saws at this one mill are estimated at and that means more food. The world's minority of them. But it just goes to $5,000 to $6,000 a year. livestock position is aggravated by feed show, even if single, you can't on the Another item from the same experi- shortages; much pasture was plowed up average do as good a job of grooming ment station indicates that the piney to produce bread grains, meaning a world yourself, cooking your meals, and clean- woods hogs, one of young longleaf pine's loss of corn and oats. Feed concentrates ing your house as we women. Further- worst enemies, eat the roots of these sap- depend largely on oilseeds, and the world more we really work hard and do the tonic, lings as a spring or to kill kidney output of them is but three-quarters of job and we deserve double credit. worms, or maybe because they want a the 1935-39 average. "For we don't have a trained valet at meal. destroy 400 square A hog can There has been a world dearth of fer- home. As I said before, what I need is single young pines in a day, and that isn't tilizer, a shortage of fuel and transporta- a good wife." hay; he can uproot and feed on longleaf tion, and in many places the short sup- Speak up, girls, What do YOU say? seedlings at the "grass stage" at a rate ply of agricultural machinery is a severe • of 6 per minute. Unlike cows, hogs can't limitation to production. "If the world The quest for security efficiently convert fibrous roughage into remains inflated and fully employed, it The desire is an old and a natural one body tissue; they prefer to get their car- for human beings, yet complete security is will continue to have food rationing in Inevitably unattainable. You may spend bohydrates from concentrates low in all but a few fortunate countries, and your life saving and accumulating an annu- ity or seniority which spells retirement fiber, like corn. high prices for food there." The current the on sufficient to live upon, and then have the The part of the root that the hogs eat assumption that the individual demand whole thing suddenly go smash and turn to runs 85 percent starch and is low in fiber. for food Is now permanently and irre- ashes before you. Many a man has com- mitted suicide not because all was lost, but roots a nice corn, The make substitute for versibly high may not be well founded. because the particular plans he made could for woods hogs which seldom see grain, At any rate, from 1949 onwards, the not be achieved. Misfortune or disaster in- tervened. Many others make the grade, live and adeptly turn to longleaf roots after world's grain position should steadily to enjoy the savings or the annuity, but the oak mast is gone. As fresh longleaf improve. there are a multitude of slips betwixt cup It better if root is about half water, a 150-pound hog and lip. Possibly would be human beings renounced their unadulterated faith has to eat about 8 pounds of it (90 linear What to do with whey in the ability of any plan .surely to provide security, realized feet) daily to keep in trim, and it can do There Is avaUable from the Bureau of Dairy them with complete and once and for all that the plans of mice and this in 2 hours. The hogs like the part Industry a 4-prge processed publication by B. H. Webb and E. O. Whlttler, on The Uti- men go oft awry, and that that's the rule; is exceptions. of the root that low in gums and resins, lization of Whey. It Is heavy on bibliography the others are astounding in Its revelation of whey's but it makes mighty expensive hog food. and National Forest returns extreme versatility. It mentions whey soups, (For details regarding any of the above, whey drinks, whey candy, dried, plain con- These totaled $18,372,799 for the fiscal write the experiment station at 1008 Federal densed, and sweetened condensed whey, and year ended June 30, 1947, surpassing all Office Bldg., New Orleans, La.) then really goes to town on a variety of prod- previous peak annual earnings.

USDA: August 18, 1947 the Prevention front porch of Accident Week Methionine in human nutrition Brief but important at that. The man in the case was Andrew S. Deming, of the Bureau's Tuberculosis Eradi- The Journal of the American Medical As- sociation for July 12 commented editorially Presidential succession cation Division. The scene was at the Deming home (not a farm) in Washington, D. C. The on recent work which indicated that animals Presidential succession of greater sulfur-bearing Under the law accident itself would have passed unmen- had a need for the Secretary of Agriculture, along with amino acids, cystine, 1886 the tioned (except for a few lame explanations) methionine and than do Secretaries of of Labor, beings, the Commerce and but for the unusual fact that Andy, when human both for maintenance and under no circumstances assume the for growth. This could falling down the cellar steps, broke his may be because animals Executive. These three are covered with hair is protein office of Chief de- glasses (those he was wearing) and landed which a partments had not been created in 1886. rich in cystine. The work, if confirmed, has on his left hip, thus breaking a spare of specs the the Speaker of the House an important bearing on milk proteins as Under new law which he keeps for an ordinary emergency. and the President protempore of the Senate human food, and would incline to the view Andy will supply details cheerfully on how would succeed, before the Secretary of State, that casein is not inferior to lactalbumin for to do this sort of thing to anyone sending a the present immediate successor, should the this purpose, because of its lower content of self-addressed, stamped envelope. President die, resign, be removed from office the sulfur-containing amino acids, as has long been held. or be unable to qualify, that is, provided there "Jack" (John A.) Ferrall were no Vice President. Furthermore, the faithful Secretaries of Agriculture, Commerce, and USDA's most and best contributor The Corn Outlook and Its Effects on is now 5026 Floristan Avenue, Eagle Rock, Labor are added to the order of succession. at World Food Needs You might say their chances were very re- Los Angeles 41, where, for 6 weeks, he just mote but, before doing so, you should reflect sat on the porch, at the end of which time This speech delivered in Chicago July 21, upon the atomic age in which we live. he began to rock—slowly. He thinks Gen. by Under Secretary Dodd, provides an in- Brehon Somervell had the right idea on how formative and useful discussion of this sub- Democracy to spend retirement and he hasn't even un- ject. Procure it from Press Service by writing packed his 700 books yet. He raves about it, or by phoning Ext. 6114, if in Washington. If you want to undertake some really the climate there and implies that what we Ask for No. 1612. rewarding summer reading you could hardly have in Washington, D. C, is weather, and a do better than to select The Web of Gov- low grade of it at that. He boasts about pro- Farm worker health ernment, by Robert M. Maclver, Lieber walking about 3 hours at midday, wearing fessor of political philosophy and sociology his coat (he didn't say overcoat) without Not long ago the manager of the 22,000- at Columbia, published by Macmillan. De- working up a sweat. He finds doing abso- acre Braswell Farms, Nash and Edgecombe spite what you may think you know about lutely nothing an absorbing and fascinating Counties, N. C, arranged with the health offi- democracy, you will learn more or will find occupation. cers of these counties to make complete phys- yourself seeing familiar concepts from a ical examinations of the 900 persons in the novel viewpoint. You will be forced to Alaska Experiment Station Head 140 families employed. This included chest conclude that democracy is the most ad- X-rays provided through the State Depart- vanced and progressive form' of government Appointment of Don L. Irwin as Director ment of Health's mobile X-ray unit, blood extant and that modern dictatorships, of of the Alaska Agricultural Experiment Sta- samples analyzed in the State laboratories, whatever kind, represent reactionary resur- tion was announced August 7. Trained at dental inspections, and vaccination check-up State University of Minnesota, gences of a past era. The differentiation Kansas and on children under 6. made between democracy, oligarchy, mon- specializing in agriculture, he has had many years' experience in Alaska. archy, and dictatorship Is sound and stimu- Progress for Mexico lating. Nor Is the book difficult reading. Columbus found the American Indians Quantities of harness and modern steel It is solid. You cannot skim it and get the plows, to replace ancient wooden ones, are substance. But its Scottish-born author smoking cigarettes being distributed to Mexican farmers during writes clearly and interestingly. He did; It was tobacco wrapped in the the foot-and-mouth war; possibly the agri- Indian corn. If inter- Timber beast Bob Salton leaves of maize or cultural industry of our southern neighbor ested in The Cigarette in the United States, will be revolutionized as the result of what That's what the man (in Region 3, Forest a documented history, see Eugene O. Porter's initially appeared to be catastrophe. Farm- Service) said, "timber beast." Bob Salton, article of that title in June Southwestern ers use their indemnity payment money who had chalked up 32 years of exemplary Social Science Quarterly, which issues from towards the purchase of new equipment, service, retired for disability, at his re- own 304 West Fifteenth, Austin, Tex. Library though this is usually inadequate and the quest, May 19. He was forest guard and gets it. Government of Mexico absorbs the difference. later deputy forest supervisor at many places in the Southwest, had a 2-year detail with Robert L. Farrington Those apples you had as a boy the Army forestry engineers (1917), and also, The former associate solicitor in charge of According to USDA horticulturist J. R. much later, with the New England Timber Credit, Deputy Governor of Farm became Magness, the apples of today are superior In Salvage Administration after the big hurri- 14. succeeded James E. Wells, FCA July He flavor, appearance, and size to those grandpa cane. He was an inveterate collector of in- Commissioner who became Cooperative Bank grew. Then the value of an apple variety sect specimens and exchanged with leading of FCA. Mr. Farrington, a native of Texas, depended on how well it kept when stored in entomologists, and, above all, was a top field has several degrees including a B. S. in eco- inspector. the cellar for winter use; the development of nomics from American University, and an cold storage and the competitive citrus-fruit S. J. from Catholic University of America. Smoke jumpers D. industry made growers select varieties of good Except for 6 years in the private practice of eating quality. Apple growing became an has with the Fed- On June 4 two Forest Service smoke jump- law in Oklahoma, he been intensive, specialized industry. A third of ers dropped by parachute to attack a fire on eral Farm Loan Board and various divisions the crop is now processed—canned, frozen, Reed's Peak, Credit Administration until 1941, high in the Black Range about of Farm dried, made into apple butter, juice, bland transferred the of the 18 miles northwest of Kingston, N. Mex. when he to Office sirup, as compared with the old days when Flying from their base in Deming Municipal Solicitor. mostly culls were dried or used for making Airport they reached the blaze in an hour vinegar, and not many of them. But apples and 12 minutes, and held it to a small area. Part of marketing research from BAE are better now than they were at the turn of Imagine what might have happened with only to PMA the century, believe it or not! packhorse and foot-travel, given the up-and- down ruggedness of the Gila country. Secretary's Memorandum No. 1198, July 11, announced the transfer—effective date to be Clyde House retires Foot-and-mouth disease determined by heads of the agencies con- "According to Clyde F. House, market news cerned of the marketing research activi- analyst for the United States Department of Full, active support for the foot-and-mouth — ties in the fields of technical improvement of Agriculture," was a familiar phrase in the disease eradication efforts now being made by market facilities, transportation methods, New York City press during the hectic ups Mexican and United States authorities in packing packaging, and wholesale and downs of meat supplies and prices the infected areas of central Mexico was pledged and and retail practices from of Agri- last years. times, House was quoted recently by a new organization representing market Bureau few At cultural Economics to Production and Mar- almost as frequently as the mayor. But the all cattle interests of the northern Mexican keting Administration. BAE remains USDA's phrase will be seen no more. After 35 years States which are still free from the virus. principal for research on factors af- service in the Federal Government, Clyde Get No. 1587 from Press Service, by mail, or agency of prices, phone Ext. 6114, for details. fecting consumption, demand, and House closed his typewriter at the end of general outlook for farm products, and for June and retired to spend a year or two visit- in field of marketing around the country before he settles' Cheer up, Doc, it might have been work the general and ing transportation economics. See the memo for down. In his long career with USDA he was worse! details. Procure from Secretary's Records a meat grader, a meat inspector, and for the Bureau of Animal Industry lays claim to Section. Plant and Operations; write, or last 16 years a reporter on meat trading in a record two-in-one accident and right on phone Ext. 3337. the New York and Jersey City markets.

USDA: August 18, 1947 3 Robert Coghill cited ington July 15. Originally in USDA hay and of high tensile strength. Some of the standardization and marketing work, he later current stands of trees here are on a distinguished service citation was con- A entered Motion Picture Service, became film •sustained-yield basis to provide lumber per- ferred on Robert D. Ccghill, by the University librarian, and had his name conferred on manently. If all the county's area were recognition of his public serv- of Kansas, in the library upon retirement. properly handled, the annual increase would thru possible ice in conducting research made be more than equal recent annual cuttings. mass production of penicillin. Dr. Coghill Consumers' Guide was formerly in charge of the Fermentation Queen bees may be barred Division. Northern Regional Research Labor- This monthly periodical of the USDA dis- continued publication with the July issue. atory, and is now director of research for To prevent the introduction of a fatal bee Abbott Laboratories. North Chicago. disease, consideration is being given to rev- Technical and Scientific Publication ocation of the regulation under which the Farm Research in Europe USDA. acting in behalf of public institutions commercial queen breeders, imports This quarterly bulletin from the New York This subject is reviewed in two articles in and for experimental scientific State Agricultural Experiment Station, at Science for July 18. The articles cover both queen tees and Geneva, and Cornell University Agricultural books and periodicals. purposes. If interested in more detail, pro- Experiment Station, at Ithaca, Is bright, in- cure No. 1579 from Press Service by mall or formative, and readably written. Address Aerosol penicillin phone Ext. 6114. correspondence to editor William B. Ward Penicillin can be gotten into the blood by If parity puzzles you i Bill Ward, you remember) at Ithaca. the inhalation of aerosols, using a combined steam generator and aerosolizer with peni- Read How Parity for Farmers is Measured, Agricultural Outlook Digest cillin in propylene glycol solution. For de- by Wayne Dexter, in July 1947 Agricultural USDA has one new leaflet, a monthly 2-page tails see an article on page 932 fl\, the Jour- Situation, Issued by the Bureau of Agricul- summary of the contents of several regular nal of the American Medical Association. tural Economics. Bureau of Agricultural Economics situation July 12. The same issue of the same Journal reports, called Agricultural Outlook Digest. contains on page 953 3. an account of a Charles H. Corlett It is designed mainly for those who like a man who contracted swine erysipelas and Corlett has been appointed a consultant of more condensed statement instead of the de- was treated with 600,000 units of penicillin the Secretary in connection with United tailed reports and summaries found in other which rapidly cleared up the lesions. States cooperation in the foot-and-mouth such periodical reports. It is re'eased each disease eradication campaign now being month on the same date as the Demand and Milk and intelligence undertaken in Mexico. Price Situation; it is available from BAE. A generation or so ago some people seri- ously believed fish was superior brain food $2,000,000 up in smoke A. P. Spencer because both fish and brain were high in That is the cost of the 4,474 forest fires in Director The veteran Florida of Extension, phosphorus. This belief proved to be a national forests, and adjacent lands the For- retired 1. fallacy. Recently, July how;ver, qualified inves- est Service protects, during the first 6 months tigators have that shown glutamic acid sup- of 1947, and all were man-caused except the Contributions to Clubs plements^ 4—H —glutamic being one of the two 519 caused by celestial artillery In the form dozen or so amino acids which make up pro- They were ruled deductible for Federal of lightning. " The flames burned 95,000 of the teins income tax purposes by the Bureau of In- —would raise the I. Q. of mentally re- 229,000,000 areas involved. But FS smoke tarded children ternal Revenue. April 24, the clubs no longer and youths and tend to sup- jumpers, airplane patrols, and ground forces press convulsions in those afflicted with being required to supply proof of exemption, epi- held the acreage burned to the lowest figure lepsy. Since milk contains considerable by a letter dated June 16. in any first half-year since before the war. glutamic acid, we may possibly soon hear More than half the fires occurred In the H parents saying to their children. "Drink your Says June-July Marketing and Trans- Southern States. milk now, I don't want you to grow up to be portation Situation a moron." Fortunately those who find milk The Fertilizer Outlook 'The farmer's share of the consumer's dol- unpalatable or gastrically offensive can get lar spent for farm food products declined their glutamic acid rather easily in other This address was delivered at Clemson Col- sharply from the all-time record high of 56 foods. lege by Assistant to the Secretary W. A. cents in March to 54 cents In April and 52 Minor, on July 15. If interested In the sub- cents in May 1947. The decline resulted Designs for Better Market Places ject, read It for facts and for policy. It Is too with information for us to run from a fall in prices received by farmers for This article by W. M. Hurst, senior agri- crammed abstract; it writing Press food products but little change in retail prices cultural engineer. Bureau of Plant Industry, an adequate get by or, If Ext paid by consumers. While the farmer's share Soils, and Agricultural Engineering, appears Service, In Washington, phoning was declining, marketing charges increased in July 1947 News for Farmer Cooperatives, a 6114; ask for it by title. from 44 percent of retail food cost in Mcrch monthly periodical issued by the Farm Credit New national agricultural chairman to 48 percent in May. Total charges for mar- Administration ($1 a year), to which we keting a family 'market basket' of farm food direct your attention. for the Junior Chamber of Com- products rose from an annual rate of $280 merce in March to S293 in April and $299 in May. K. A. Brasfield He is 28-year-old John S. Kuykendall, Jr., or nearly 7 percent. This is $98, or nearly 50 Brasfleld has been appointed director of the supervisor for the Farmers Ad- percent, higher than marketing charges of Fiscal Branch. Production and Marketing Ad- county Home ministration at Brownwood. Tex., the last 4 $201 in 1935-39." The "market basket" con- ministration, of which he has been serving years. Kuykendall's appointment, during tains quantities of farm food products equal as associate director. He succeeds H. F. the recent Jaycee Convention in Long Beach- to 1935-39 average annual purchases per Shambarger, who asked to be assigned to gen- Calif., climaxes his long activity In the organ- family of three average consumers; see Mis- eral staff work and entered the Office of the ization's farm program. He headed the local cellaneous Publication No. 576 for details. Administrator. Except for his World War II service, Brasfield has been engaged in ac- Jaycee committee which started the success- Minor revisions of documents counting and fiscal administration since 1931. ful Brownwood Livestock Show and is now He is a graduate in business administration serving his second year as Texas agricultural USDA Document No. 1, Origin, Structure, of Washington University, and a certified chairman of the organization. Kuykendall and Functions of the United States Depart- public accountant, and was for several years entered USDA with the old FSA at Burnet, ment of Agriculture, has been revised as of with Farm Credit Administration, of which Tex., in 1940. •July 1, to bring current the Pro- accounts of he became comptroller 1938—45. He was also duction and Marketing Administration and assistant treasurer of Commodity Credit Federal Crop Insurance Corporation; order Corporation. new copies only interested in if these changes. AUGUST 18, 1947 Vol. VI, No. 17 USDA Document No. 3, Biographies of Per- Lumber from Coos Bay sons in Charge of Federal Agricultural Work. So the Economist (London) for July 5 USDA Is published fortnightly for distri- 1836 to Date, also was very slightly revised direction heads a brief from its Oregon correspondent. bution to employees only, by of after the death of former Secretary Howard The British Timber Control has placed orders the Secretary of Agriculture and with the M. Gore. If interested In information about for 175 million board feet of lumber and 75 approval of the Director of the Budget, as the USDA. ask for new document list. Ad- re- million feet of ties, to come from Coos containing administrative information dress T. Swann Harding, Office of Informa- transaction of the public County. 89 percent of which is classed as quired for proper tion, Departmet of Agriculture, Washington timber land. There are 35 sawmills In the business. 25, D. C. 910.825-acre county where 20 billion feet of Address correspondence to Editor of USDA, timber, mostly Douglas firs, still stand. From Office of Information, U. S. Department of H. B. McClure Coos also comes Port Oxford cedar, actually Agriculture. Washington 25. D. C. Wash- This veteran employee of Motion Picture a cypress, containing a fragrant oil which ington employees phone 4842 on editorial Service, who retired In 1945. died in Wash- enables it to resist decay, straight grained. matters; 3185 on distribution.

«. t. ICTIIIIir P«IHTI»« OfTlCTi IM1 — SHARE THIS COPY Early chemical journal In connection with forthcoming cen- tenary celebrations of the British Chemi- cal Society, the first volume of the pro- ceedings of an older organization has opportunely been discovered. This is a 1 """""" Tafrr,E8ai well-bound folio of 452 pages in copper- MA plate manuscript simply inscribed "Chemical Society instituted in the be- ginning of the year 1785." It has been identified as volume 1 of the Proceedings FOR SEPTEMBER 1947 \ I mB*linm**\ 1, of the Chemical Society of the University of Edinburgh, and contains 22 communi- cations and papers read at its meetings. Most are routine descriptive chemistry Service Award Boards Soft Corn of the classical period and Nature (Lon- don) tells us "an attempt by Mr. Thomas awards program has THE EMPLOYEE LATE SPRINGS, unseasonably low tem- Beddoes, later director of the Pneumatic earlier herein 3° been mentioned USDA peratures (averaging or more below Institution and supervisor of Humphry • 31-April 14, 1947. The member- March normal) and too much rain, inevitably Davy, to point out some of the conse- Serv- ship of the Board of Distinguished spell soft corn Soft corn contains too quences which flow from Mr. Cavendishes ice Awards is composed of former Repre- much water and> if it contains 30 per- discovery of the component parts of sentative Robert Ramspeck, chairman; cent Qf moisture_as it easily can_2,500 water peters out, after an attractive Chief of the Bureau of Agricul- former into entitled 'a con- g Qf water haye fcQ be dried ^ Qf start, an addendum , Industrial Chemistry O. E. . . , . ., , " tural and ,, . ... jecture concerning the use of Manure.' ...... _..._, every thousand bushels of it to get it former editor of Prairie Farmer May; the An account of The Chemical Society down to 13 percent at which !t Wl11 keep " and author of the Parmer and the Rest ' and its centenary will be found in Nature You can 't do that with a kitchen fan - of Us, Arthur Moore; Assistant Secretary for July 5. Brannan; Special Assistant to the Chief Moreover, if the corn that has to be kept of the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, over till spring contains too much water, and Agricultural Engineering, P. V. Car- it will go bad rapidly as soon as it thaws Research Achievements don; and T. Roy Reid, Director of Per- after the final freeze, RESEARCH ACHIEVEMENT Sheets 77 sonnel. The first three are all out- A primary problem arises. Farmers in (P) and 78 (P) are now available from* side USDA. Mr. Ramspeck is Executive potential soft-corn areas must have sum- Agricultural Research Administration. Vice President of the Air Transport As- cient dry corn to feed their livestock in The first tell'; how research on improved sociation of America; Dr. May is Direc- the late spring and summer of 1948. potato storage assured two-way savings. tor of Research for the Coca-Cola Co.; Shortage of corn that could be stored The work was performed cooperatively and Mr. Moore is with McGraw-Hill satisfactorily in the warm months of by USDA and State workers in Maine, Publishing Co. next year could have a serious effect on Michigan, Nebraska, Colorado, and North The Board of Superior Service Awards the Nation's meat supply. It's a race Dakota. For USDA the Division of Farm consists of Assistant to the Secretary E. against time to perfect driers and dry Buildings and Rural Housing, Bureau of J. Overby, chairman; O. V. Wells, Chief this corn. So E. A. Meyer and the Re- Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural \ of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics; search and Marketing Act of 1946 hur- Engineering was the unit involved. A Louise Stanley, Special Assistant to the ried to the rescue. The first project to be new method was developed for building Agricultural Research Administrator; financed under the act is research to de- potato-storage houses, the investigation E. W. Loveridge, Assistant Chief of Forest velop portable corn-drying equipment costing about $20,000 and being worth Service; H. G. Clayton, the new Director practicable for farm or community use. about $60,000 annually, on the basis of 5 of the Florida Agricultural Extension The agricultural engineers are confi- million bushels of potatoes now being ? Service; Ralph W. Hollenberg, the Cali- dent that the problem can be solved in stored in improved buildings. for tells , fornia State Director Farmers Home time to prevent spoilage of 200 million The second of these sheets of the Administration; and T. Roy Reid, Direc- bushels of soft corn to be stored which, development of curly-top-resistant sugar tor of Personnel. Alternates on this statistics say, will be bound to appear. beet varieties, by workers in PISAE's Di- Board are: J. L. Wells, Assistant Director, Federal, State, and private forces will be vision of Sugar Plant Investigations. '" Office of Budget and Finance; R. W. mobilized into a research team to attack Resistant varieties were bred and then Trullinger, Assistant Administrator, this problem. As soon as the engineers used to make sugar beet growing once " ARA, and Chief of the Office of Experi- can draw up specifications based on the more profitable in districts where curly ment Stations; Myrtle Mohagen, Busi- latest available knowledge of corn-dry- top had about wiped out the crop. The

ness Manager, Northern Regional Re- j ng processes, contracts will be let to variety U. S. 1 was of primary importance search Laboratory; Librarian Ralph manufacturers for the construction of and gave new hope to farmers and sugar Shaw; Associate Director of Informa- several models to determine which are companies alike. The investigation cost tion R. L. Webster; and Austin L. Pat- best by actual test. The money invested three quarter of a million dollars, but is rick, Regional Conservator, Region 1, in this research should be returned to the worth 10 million dollars a year, based 'Soil Conservation Service. public many times over. on an average yield improvement of 4

758031°—47 per acre on a quarter enough to stimulate further experimen- tons of sugar beets le-No-Hikari of a million acres subject to curly top, tation. while the western sugar beet industry FS is right up to the minute in its DO YOU IMAGINE you'd like a little of jumpers was saved from extinction in the bargain. forest fire-fighting. Its smoke that—with enough horseradish over it, chute down from moving planes to fight of course? isn't it to eat? Well, It is not the woman, but research that Or good fires at close range. Sets of fire-fighting pays, and keeps on paying, interest on the it happens to be the name of a Japanese equipment are also parachuted down farm periodical investment. brought back from Nip- where most needed. Photographs of the pon by Associate Director of Information fire are taken and developed in planes R. L. Webster. It is published by the Administrator Meyer and also dropped to the fire-fighters Light of Home Society. Its 52 pages below to guide them in their work. The measure 5>2 by 8 inches each, newsprint water bombing took place in Lolo Na- color covers, E. A. MEYER was designated Adminis- with on 4 pages rotogravure, tional Forest, 40 miles west of Mis- it is of Agri- trator, Research and Marketing Act, by and the organ the National soula; Jack S. Barrows was project cultural Associaticn, Inc. It has a Secretary's Memorandum No. 1199, July now leader for FS. circulation of about a quarter of a mil- 18. He became responsible for coordina- lion, which grew from 25,000 copies in tion, general oversight, and development May 1925, when it began to appear, to of the marketing policies and activities PMA Now 1.200,000 in 1935, and to 1.535.000 in of USDA, and for the integration of re- 1943-44. search, education, and production pro- PROGRAMS that require administering Ie-No-Hikari would today have a mil- grams in their relation to market activi- clear down to the individual farm will go lion and a half subscribers if it had the ties. He will also maintain relations with from Production and Marketing Admin- paper to serve them. It doesn't and that's State and other agencies and institutions istration to the State and then to why its quarter of a million copies are which cooperate in work under the act. the farmer-elected county committees. shared by its public until worn to shreds. The Administrator was appointed These in general are the agricultural We cannot read Japanese but we have Chairman of the Research and Market- conservation program, production goals, authentic information that the pages, ing Advisory Group, consisting of the and PMA's part of the farm-labor pro- which turn from back to front, with ver- heads of Agricultural Research Admin- gram, as well as programs under Com- tical reading columns, contain material istration, Office of Experiment Stations modity Credit Corporation authority on the following subjects: (ARA), Soil Conservation Service, Bu- concerned with price supports for in- An editorial on pride and dignity; the reau of Agricultural Economics, Forest dividual commodities at the farm level. Service, Production and Marketing Ad- Over-all Assistant Administrator for new constitution, basis of democratic ministration, Farm Credit Administra- Production is Dave Davidson. government; world currents; serial novel, tion, Office of Foreign Agricultural Rela- Certain programs, formerly adminis- Love; comment on Japan's present social tions, Extension Service, and Rural Elec- tered through State offices, will now be state, in the form of a round-table dis- trification Administration. The execu- administered from Washington through cussion; prevention and care of children's tive committee of this group consists of five area offices of the Food Distribution indigestion; nutritious cooking using ses- the Administrator and the heads of ARA. Programs Branch. These deal with di- ame; first steps in dressmaking; home PMA, BAE. and OES. rect distribution of surplus foods, com- science and electricity; contributor's supersedes No. 1182, De- canning, school lunches, the This memo munity and column; illustrated items on land reform, cember 27, 1946. like. Paul Stark is in charge. artificial insemination of cattle, and pre- The former program functions of the venting cattle diseases. Field Service Branch are now carried The staff would like material from the Fire Bombers out by the appropriate commodity United States "Ministry of Agriculture." branches. All Department programs au- Subscription line forms on the right. It's IN COLLEGE days it was a highly es- thorized under the Marketing and Re- very different teemed recreation to fill large paper bags search Act of 1946 are administered not from our own farm full of water, then stand at the window through the office of E. A. Meyer, Admin- journals—that is until you try to read it, of a third- or fourth-floor room and istrator of Marketing under that act. and that takes more than your best specs. drop them delicately on faculty mem- Secretary's Memorandum No. 1188,

bers or even on other students who ex- Supplement 1, August 8, established a cited your aversion. Who would imagine Marketing Research Branch in Produc- Brief but important that Forest Service would think of some- tion and Marketing Administration and what the same method and put it to use defined its functions. The Branch re- This new sidehead type extinguishing forest fires? ports to the Assistant Administrator for It resulted from suggestions by various Not long ago (July 25) the Spokane Marketing. For details procure the readers who felt that it would make it easier Spokesman-Review recounted experi- memo from Secretary's Records. for them to sort out the BBI's they wanted to read, and It Is certainly more readily legi- ments during which members of the ble than that Italic we did use. Thanks for Army Air Force, working in cooperation the suggestion. But other suggestions that we classify the BBI's into subject-matter with FS, dropped bombs loaded with Scientists! Researchers! categories must for the time remain un- with proximity fuses water and equipped Do you find USDA of value? If so, pre- heeded. The current strict-economy method of getting out simply leaves the large in order to test the possibilities of slow- cisely how? If you find It Inadequate, we'd USDA (the writer; like to know about that too. It Is quite a editorial force weight 175 ing down fires until ground crews could Job attempting to put out this small fort- pounds) no time to do the classifying. reach them. Flying at tree-top level they nightly, aiming It at all employees In all kinds of that's our objective. made several passes over the fire without Jobs. But We'd like especially to hear what use scien- Farm living conditions improved making a drop then, announcing a hot tific and research workers make of the house Please address Families States cpsrators, run. it was bombs away. Results were organ. T. Swann Harding, of United farm Omce of Information. USDA, Washington 25, on the average, enjoyed a 25 percent better by no means perfect, but were good D. C. living in 1945 than in 1940.

2 USDA: September 1, 1947 !

No vaccine Zoological Subspecies of Man at the Crow Indian heads SCS The no-vaccine policy holds for animals in Peace Table Anyway the Daily Missoulian of July 24 Mexico that suffer from foot-and-mouth dis- says that Dr. H. H. Bennett, Chief of Soil Possibly is strictly ease, for vaccination would merely impede the item not farm news, Conservation Service, became a full-fledged the disease-eradication program now in prog- but anything concerned with man has an member of the Crow Indian tribe on the 23d, ress there. Where vaccination has been tried agricultural flavor. Anyway we should like following rites held in Hardin in connection to tip you off to look the article of this it has led neither to complete suppression nor up with a conservation field day. Hail to the to prevention of the ailment. Some vac- title by E. Raymond Hall, of the University chief cinated animals never became fully resistant, of Kansas, in the Journai of Mammalogy for November 1946 (Vol. 27, No. 4, p. 358 ff.). If and the duration of immunity is but from FS new fire chief little late sounding off, 5 to 8 months. Procurement of wholly sus- we were a remember ceptible animals to use in producing and "we" are not a mammologist. But the article Arthur A. Brown has succeeded the late does contain for thought. testing the vaccine is also a problem. Besides food David Godwin as Forest Service's fire chief, that it is always difficult to prevent the highly the latter having been killed in the commer- infective virus from escaping the laboratories Some new publications cial air liner crash in West Virginia, June 13. and spreading the disease. Other more tech- Born in Kansas, Brown early moved to Ohio, First Aid for the Irrigator, Miscellaneous nical reasons for using no vaccine can be and graduated from University of Michigan Publication No. 624, comes from the Engi- adduced. If interested, contact the informa- with a B. S. in forestry in 1922. However, he neering Division of Farmers Home Adminis- tion division of the Bureau of Animal In- was a seasonal laborer with FS in Montana tration, is available for 20 cents from the dustry. during summer 1921; he became a forest Superintendent of Documents, Government assistant immediately after graduation. He Printing Office, and gives concisely and with worked in Montana and Idaho until assigned Charles Thorn honored apt drawings just about all anybody would to a fire research project at Berkeley, Calif., want to know on the subject. . . . Farmers' in October 1930. He was placed in charge of We recently saw items from Madrid papers Bulletin No. 1985 is entitled "Seed for Re- a forest fire-control project for all California ^ of May 9 last telling of and depicting the grassing Great Plains Areas," was issued July forests in December 1935 and, in April 1937, bestowal of a medal of honor upon Dr. Thorn, 1947, and was prepared by three Soil Con- became chief of fire control for FS Region 2. w retired USDA mycologist, by the Spanish servation Service Agronomists. . . . Home After being assigned, in February 1944, to Minister of Education, Ibanez Martin. Dr. Canning of Fruits and Vegetables (USDA coordinate and standardize fire control plans Thom looked quite like Dr. Thorn—and in AIS-64, July 1947) contains the latest infor- and activities in all FS regions, he was made fine fettle too—despite his foreign surround- mation our Bureau of Human Nutrition and assistant to the fire control chief in Washing- ings. Economics has the subject Home on and ton, September 9, 1945. He is the author of strikes a strict noncanner like the writer, as numerous articles on forest fire control. End of industrial sugar rationing being full of useful information made prac- tical by clear text and illustrations so illu- Elsworth ' passes r Industrial sugar rationing ended rather minating that said noncanner almost feels abruptly at noon, July 28, because funds were as if he himself could do a right smart job R. H. Elsworth, who died in Regina, Sask., flacking to continue the program. This elim- of canning, after perusal. It is an admirable Canada, on July 26, aged 75, retired in 1943 inates all sugar rationing, though price con- example of making pictures and the fewest as head of the Historical and Statistical Sec- trols are retained, and sugar inventory con- words possible tell the story. tion, Cooperative Research and Service Divi- trols were instituted concurrently with the sion, Farm Credit Administration. An expert end of industrial rationing. For details pro- Epitaphs on farmer cooperation he was author of _ cure No. 1686 from Press Service; write in. several bulletins and numerous articles on Dana Reynolds of Radio Service has gone the subject. He was a native of Michigan forth in part to close up the Western Office Research Advisory Committee and a graduate of its university. He lived in of the Service, which was opened January 1, California after retirement. The National Research Advisory Commit- 1931. Budget cuts make its discontinuation mandatory. tee, established under the Research and Mar- Discontinued radio projects are Eating, Dressmaker Fiowers keting Act of 19-16, recently met in Washing- Good Radio Round-up, and now. Con- sumer Time, the network weekly presentation ton with the Secretary and other USDA offi- If you were to attend a class on floriculture cials, and recommended that special stress be over NBC. and went in to discover the professor exhibit- placed on marketing efficiency and the wider ing anthropological specimens, you would use of farm products, in the expenditure of PMA echoes probably rush out to scan the room number the 9 million dollars Congress appropriated to make certain you had entered the right Some kindly soul who realizes that editors for 1947-48. It also recommended develop- door. And when you found you had, you in Washington need to know more about what ment of practical methods for marketing would still be a little dismayed. Something goes in the fieid has sent in, from Mountain critical farm surpluses that may arise in years like that happened in Mississippi in July City, Tenn., two or three issues of the lively ahead. For details procure No. 1633 from when 40 agricultural workers attending sum- illustrated "letter" gotten out under the I Press Service, by mail. mer school came to hear a discourse on news- above title by the county committee and ACP writing, only to find Extension Editor Jack directed to the committeemen. The samples Flowers exhibiting several yards of soft blue If you follow futures aptly depict what any group of full or part- I material, saying "I'm going to make a dress time USDA employees can do for itself any- * Two new statistical publications this afternoon." Selecting a volunteer home on fu- where if they have the mind to, and it takes tures trading were issued demonstration agent who wore size 14, dress- recently by the a mind, of course, to get out a news letter as maker Jack began to cut his pattern. With Commodity Exchange Authority. One tells informative as bright this and as one. In- stroke, - the figure story of the futures each deft he compared the step to a markets for cidentally those letters done out of hours the 1946 fiscal year . . . for all segment of the news story. When the dress commodities and at the employees' expense tend to be and all markets. Title of this bulletin assumed its proper form, a complete story is brightest of all! ^Commodity Futures Statistics, July 1945- about a home demonstration club feature, June 1946. The other carries forward the REA News printed on the cloth, was readable. „ statistical story of futures trading in wheat "" * which was interrupted during the war. The Rural Electrification News for June-July, Rubber present is issue Wheat Futures Statistics, contains mighty good articles on Planning July What became of our efforts to encourage 1942-June 1946. Copies of these publi- Better Use of Office Space and on Your Elec- cations may be obtained writing rubber growing in South America during the by the Com- tric Wiring. In fact, it might truthfully be modity Exchange Authority, war? Dr. E. W. Brandes, who was in charge USDA, Washing- said that it contains mighty good articles, ton 25, D. C. period. of USDA rubber investigations, says that the cooperative natural rubber program has emerged from the nursery stage in Brazil, Treat B. Johnson Abridged Chronology of Agriculture's 1 Colombia, Costa Rica, Guatemala, Haiti, Hon- The death of Treat B. Johnson at 72, fa- Part in the War duras, Mexico, and Peru. About 29,000 acres ? mous Yale biochemist, makes the editorial of field plantings are now established in gov- mind revert to our final effort in the field of In case you missed our "final" offer of this ernment demonstration areas, on coffee, research biochemistry which got us mixed corrected document, we now make a final- banana, and other plantations, and on nearly up with glutathione and landed us for a few final one. It is a chronological list of events a thousand small farms. USDA maintains weeks in Sterling Chemical Laboratory under in the war period as they affected agriculture scientists and technicians in various centers Johnson's tutelage. We were then with in general, the Department of Agriculture in to conduct research and train local workers. Bureau of Dairy Industry. Johnson was an particular. The Bureau of Agricultural Eco- The return of rubber here as an economic inspiring and notable man whose researches nomics' historians went over it and rendered' crop became possible by the introduction of i were famous in pyrimidine chemistry, inves- it accurate for permanent file purposes. We clones from high-yielding Hevea trees in the tigation of the tubercule bacilli, the organic have about 100 copies. If you want one to Far East, and by development of leaf-blight- j. sulfur compounds, medicinal products, pro- file for reference drop a line to T. Swann control methods. Rubber plantings of 5 to teins and their constituents. He retired, dis- Harding, Office of Information, Department 10 acres will offer a profitable long-term en- abled by his heart, in 1945, and was miser- of Agriculture, Washington 25, D. C. Please terprise to small farmers in Latin America able, when last we talked to him because he do not phone, but any legible note you chuck and will help build a strong diversified agri- could no longer be active in the lab. in the mail will do. Request by title. culture in the tropics.

USDA: September 1, 1947 —

Household hints Cotton Loan Program Agricultural Outlook Digest

1947 is Food and Home Notes for release July 30, The Cotton Loan Program explained This two-page one-sheet digest, available in Press Release No. July contained material on safe scouring of bath- 1713, dated 30; pro- from Bureau of Agricultural Economics, gives cure it from Press Service by mail. tubs, washbowls, and sinks; the removal of you as fine a general survey, and as easy t< metal stains from fabrics; and methods of read, of the agricultural situation as you fighting mildew on upholstered articles, Brannan and the Chest could get. It's a monthly. It's in small . mattresses, rugs, leather, wood, and wall- ., Assistant Secretary Brannan will head type but, like our BBI's, perfectly legible. paper. Contact Helen C. Douglass, Office of Community Chest Federation Campaign vol- Information. DSDA, Washington 25, D. C. unteers in his Department, and she might be persuaded to part with a a division of the Pasteurization, test Government Unit of the drive for 1948 oper- copy of this material which is authoritative ating funds for 125 agencies. "•' and of permanent value. Red Feather A modified phosphatase test, originally de- Brannan, who was appointed to the Chest veloped and perfected for use on Cheddar position by Assistant Secretary of the Navy, cheese by the Bureau of Dairy Industry, to Superior employees W. John Kenney, Government Unit Chair- determine whether the milk used in mak.ng man, served as an agricultural advisor to the the cheese had been pasteurized or not, has Superior accomplishment pay increases United Nations Economic and Social Coun- now been developed so that it can be applied were recently awarded, with appropriate cere- cil (UNESCO). A native of Denver, and a successfully to fluid milk; cream; Cheddar, former attorney there, he was regional direc- mony, to William H. Cheesman and Alice I. Swiss, and other hard cheeses; process cheese Fray, technical editors for Bureau of Plant tor for the Farm Security Administration for and cheese spreads; cottage and other soft, Industry. Soils, and Agricultural Engineering. some years. He was also regional attorney unripened cheeses; butter, buttermilk; fer- The former was cited for his aptitude (and. for the Office of the Solicitor for some time. mented milk drinks; ice-cream mix; sherbet; we'd add. diplomacy!) for collaborating with The Community Chest Federation campaign, chocolate milk; cheese whey; and (with less authors of technical publications and his representing Community Chests in Wash- sensitivity) goat's milk. The test promises sound advice on effective presentation, as ington, Alexandria, and the counties of Ar- to be useful as a public health safeguard. well as for his effectiveness in training less lington, Fairfax, Montgomery, and Prince Procure No. 1749 from Press Service for experienced personnel. Miss Fray won recog- Georges, opens in the fall. details. nition for what Dr. Karl T. Compton, Chair- man of the President's Advisory Commission Crop insurance Future of Dried Eggs on Universal Training, called her "many sig- nal accomplishments" during a recent detail The new crop insurance legislation limits The editor of USDA has some reprints of to this Commission. Cheesman has been the program to a strictly experimental basis. an article by this title in June Journal of the with the Government since 1905. with USDA Wheat may be insured in no more than 200 American Dietetic Association; It concerns since 1913; Miss Fray joined the Office of counties, cotton in no more than 56. corn the work on dehydrated food at Western Information in the thirties as a CAF-1. and flax in no more than 50 each, and tobacco Regional Research Laboratory. Want a copy? There is always room at the top if you work in no more than 35. The FCIC Board of in that direction. Directors grows from 3 to 5, of whom 2 must be experienced in the insurance business and Dan M. Braun not otherwise employed by the Government. Forever Amber Division of Training, Office of Personnel, For details procure press release No. 1755 has returned from Stockholm, Sweden, where from Press Service by mail. Sorry, but you're wrong. That's the title he attended the 8th International Manage- lead article in Economist of the The London ment Congress, long postponed because of the July 12. It somewhat pessimistically but for Sugar war. If interested in what he found out very informatively discusses Britain's immi- there, prod him. nent economic crisis; you would do well to The Sugar Act of 1937 was essentially re- get it from the Library and read it for better enacted by Congress, but with important understanding of conditions in the United changes relating to the method of calculating Wax from lignin Kingdom. O yes, the amber refers to traffic the annual sugar-consumption estimate, quo- lights; the Economist insists that immediate tas for various producing areas, and the allo- Oregon State College reports that that action must be taken to solve Britain's prob- cation of area deficits to other producing State's Forest Products Laboratory has been lems for: "The colour is red—for danger," areas. This legislation, known as the Sugar recovering 5 tons of high-melting-point wax and no longer amber. Act of 1948, will run 5 years. from the 60-70 tons of lignin it produces daily. This development should have an im- Byerly promoted Francis A. Flood portant bearing on alcohol production from wood waste. Contact Dr. Erwin F. Kurth. Dr. T. C. Byerly has succeeded Dr. Hugh C. This inveterate, incorrigible, and indefati- professor of wood chemistry at Oregon State, McPhee as head of the Animal Husbandry Di- gable world traveler left our Office of Foreign for details. vision. Bureau of Animal Industry, as the lat- Agricultural Relations to become Agricul- ter's duties as assistant chief of BAI will tural Attache in Ottawa September 1. This Press Officer Please now absorb all his time. A native of Iowa, is a logical step for a man who crossed the Byerly entered BAI as poultry physiologist Sahara Desert on a motorcycle, jaunted 150 Some USDA readers may be interested In June 1, 1929. serving as such until October 20, miles afoot in the middle of Borneo, walked Press Officer Please, by F. Howard Lancum, 1937. when he left to become professor of long distances on the Malay Peninsula, visited M. B. E., Press Officer of the British Ministry poultry husbandry at University of Maryland. the Polar Arctic, Australia, South and Cen- of Agriculture and Fisheries during the war. On July 1, 1941. he returned to BAI as head tral America, and Europe—the last many Besides being a whimsical account of the of Its poultry-husbandry investigations and times. He did not, however, traverse the day-to-day headaches of a government infor- supervisor of the National Poultry Improve- Himalayas on roller skates—that story is mation man in wartime, it is a story of how apocryphal. He did spend some years as asso- ment Plan. He was in charge of UNRRA's the war affected English agriculture. The i ciate editor of the Nebraska Farmer and rehabilitation program for 1\ 2 years imme- story is told mostly by illustration. One diately after the war. also of the Oklahoma Farmer-Stockman, and will suffice. A Welsh farmer was cursing gov- he has recently had a regular column in ernment forms. When a reporter asked Mm Retirement deductions return Country Gentleman. More geography to why, he explained that wherever a form asked him! for the location of his farm, he had to write: Public Law 263. Eightieth Congress, so "Llanfairpwllgwyngyllgherchwrndrobwllllan- amended the Civil Service Retirement Act Wallace Kadderly dysiliogogogoch!" Ouch! (p. 89.) The Li- as to permit return of retirement deductions brary has this book. from pay of employees separated before com- The former head of USDA's Radio Service pleting 10 years of service. This amendment Is back from his flying trip—and we do mean was approved July 30, 1947, as effective Janu- flying—to Australia and New Zealand, of ary 24. 1942. which he has produced a mimeographed re- port. If Interested, write him for a copy at Melphonis inflatus Station KGW. Portland, Oreg. His doings September 1, 1947 Vol. VI, No. 18 should be of particular Interest to radio Or you may say Camponotus inflatus. If you workers. USDA Is published fortnightly for distri- like that better. In any case the inflation Is bution to employees only, by direction of authentic, for this is the Australian honey Exhibits the Secretary of Agriculture and with the ant which, for reasons of Its own. feeds a approval of the Director of the Budget, as few select members of its societies until their If you can possibly do so, see some of the containing administrative information re- abdomens become huge (size of a pea) ln- fine exhibits our Exhibits Service produces quired for proper transaction of the public

i balls of honey, so the native women like the one for the Midland Empire Fair, in business. use them for sweetening purposes. The tasty Billings, Mont., during August. If you can- Address correspondence to Editor of USDA, morsels arc held by the head while the honey- not see one, read about this one on soil con- Office of Information, U. S. Department of fllled abdomen Is bitten off. At least the servation and wise use of the land In Press Agriculture, Washington 25, D. C. Wash- Australian News and Information Bureau Release No. 1751, available from Press Serv- ington or field employees, please write vouches for this. ice by mail. Instead of phoning.

U. S. GOVCRNMCNT PRINTING OFFICE: U47 —

authorized by Congress in 1938, to search SHARE THIS COPY for new and wider industrial outlets and markets for farm crops. He, along with Dr. W. W. Skinner and the late Dr. F. P. Veitch, was among the first in the De- partment to advocate the "chemurgic" or industrial use of farm products. They 1 were early advocates of the pilot-plant or semicommercial-scale type of research J A i -:- --;^l| which has proved so profitable in the four laboratories. As a result of their vision and planning, one-third of the SEPTEMBER 15, 1947 entire space in each of these large re- 4 £?___ Ffl^ search centers is now devoted to pilot- plant investigations.

rij ft ranis/ assistance, we must exert every effort to y rnn II" ft extend the benefits of our program to the You and the Intern Program largest possible number of deserving UNDER THE new insured-mortgage f^ Administrator Dillard B. Las- HOW MUCH do you know about the Ad- program of the Farmers Home Admmis- seter rec ^ & meeUng Qf gtate ministrative Intern Program, announced ^ration private credit sources have in- directors in Washington . by Civil Service Commission April 15? creased opportunity to participate in the And brought to the attention of heads of - financing of family-type farm purchases. Wi QSDA's administrations, bureaus, and Congress recently appropriated an in- |f 0F3C© offices by Office of Personnel May 6? The r-sured mortgage fund which will enable idea is to assist in discovering and train- PHA to insure loans made by private M r. HERRICK, who is Special Assistant ing employees possessed of superior po- "lenders up to 90 percent of the reasonable to the Chief of the Bureau of Agricul- tential administrative and/or executive value of the farm. In addition, direct tural Chemistry, is one of and Industrial abilities. The program is sponsored by farm-purchase and farm-operating loans the country's leading authorities on the the interdepartmental Committee on Ad-

. will be available as heretofore. All loans industrial utilization of agricultural corn- ministrative Interns. Supervisors rec- made or insured by the PHA are for modifies. He has been connected with ommend candidates, agency heads farmers who cannot obtain adequate the chemical research in the Department endorse them, final selection is made credit elsewhere. for nearly a quarter of a century. He after careful study of the individuals in- ft Programs which will be operated dur- started BAIC's fermentation work, which volved. ing the coming year include: expanded with the years until it could The number of persons nominated as Production and subsistence: This will render invaluable aid in the early stages candidates for the first six of the annual provide short-term credit at 5 percent in- f the commercial development of peni- Intern Programs was 82, for USDA, of terest for the purchase of seed, feed, articles .,,. TT , . ... _ , _, , clllln Color for family living, livestock, and farm equip- - He was head of the Bureau s whom 19 were selected by Civil Service ment. If a farmer must make a major ad- and Farm Waste Laboratory from the Commission's Interview Panel actually justment in his farm and home operations, 4 i j-v, m-oAf iopa tji tlmeHm neh ninpflnea w*ep Stan, inj n ly^rj, until,, n PHA supervisors will also provide guidance J° to participate. It is significant that only 1 in making the changes. Approximately $68,- 1935. five agencies—Personnel, Production and 000 000 will be available for such loans p i935_38 Herrick was head of the Marketing Administration, Bureau of i Farm ownership, enlargement, and devel- ' opment: Includes both direct Government Industrial Farm Products Research Di- Agricultural Economics, Farmers Home loans and insurance of loans by private lend- vision, and from 1938-42 Assistant Chief Administration, and Forest Service 'ers for the purchase, enlargement, and de- ^ . , t,, . «. , ,, , of the BureaU in char e of the Planning, velopment of family-type farms. These loans § have so far contributed an intern for ac- construction, staffing will bear 3y2 -percent interest and run 40 and of the four Re- tual training. Obviously the news has years. Repayments will be made on a va- gional Research Laboratories. He was not gotten around as it should. riable payment plan which permits repay- Director of the Nothern Regional Lab- 'ment of large amounts in good crop years The plan cannot be explained in detail so that a reserve may be built up against oratory at Peoria, 111., from 1942-46. Be- in the space at our disposal. But see - possible low income in bad years. Loans are cause of his special training and experi- your personnel officer or your supervisor made only after a county committee of three e is nce he particularly qualified to advise and inform yourself about it. Ask par- ^oca! persons, at least two of are , . . , _.. . - . , whom farm- , assist the ers, has appraised the farm and certified that and Chlef ln Panning and car- ticularly to see a copy of the following, y it can be purchased, rying out to at a price based on long- programs encourage the use and read it carefully: Director of Person- time earning-capacity values. This commit- of agricultural products in industry. He No. P-640, dated tee also nel Reid's Memorandum certifies applicant eligibility. Dur- v,„,j „ ,, ,, , had m0re than 15 years exPenence in >ing fiscal 1948, 15 million dollars will be May 6, to heads of all agencies on the manufacture of such industrial 5 available for direct loans. materials Sixth Administrative Intern Program. Water facilities: These ^ loans will be made as illuminating gas, dyes, and fine and You may be a potential administrator or t0 rou s eq" iri" credj s P s t heavy chemicals, before joining the De- fnr^S^jor the installation or use of/water executive of the top-flight category. If facilities . . „ ,.. necessary for the most efficient use of their Partment. He was a lieutenant colonel so, those in charge of the program do not farm or ranch lands in the 17 Western States. in the Chemical Warfare Service Reserve want to pass you by. The apropriation for these loans is between the two wars. $1,500,000. Under the leadership of the late Dr. * Veterans will be given preference in all Henry G. Knight, Mr. Herrick did out- Isotope Distribution Program Proerams - L standing work in the planning, building, If interested in this program of the Iso- "With the reduced personnel, loan equipping, and staffing of the four Re- topes Branch, U. S. Atomic Energy Com- mission, see the lead article in Science for funds and the heavy demand for our gional Research Laboratories which were August 29. 759619°—47 —

Dacus dorsalis (in its early immaturity) Information about was repulsed. During the first 6 months "Talk Turkey!" this year the inspectors also inter- of WE purloined the following material, de- / the Department fruitfly larvae in avo- cepted the mango signed to make Forest Service writers of Kamani nuts in parcel THE 10 mimeographed documents con- cados, guavas, and letters, reports, and instructions write v Honolulu to taining information about the Depart- post packages mailed from simply, from the Administrative Bulle- various points in the mainland. * ment and issued in connection with tin of FS Region 3, dated July 2. Therein The mango fruitfly is not so particu- USDA have been reduced in number. it was attributed to FS "Self Helps," and it 60 kinds of fruits Documents that remain available to lar; dines on some wound up with this sentence in caps, send out are as follows: and vegetables, including also pears, "CHOOSE THE SIMPLEST WORD peaches, bananas, citrus fruits, tomatoes, 1. Origin, Structure, and Functions of THAT CARRIES YOUR MEANING!" peppers, and eggplants. Should it effect ^ the U. S. Department of Agriculture. Unnecessarily long, technical, or high- ^ a landing here it would become one of 2. Abridged List of Federal Laws Ap- brow words give the impression that we injurious agricultural pests in plicable to Agriculture (Including Ref- the most are "'Legalistic bureaucrats makings Functions). the Nation. Its failure to enter may be erence to Former things more difficult than they are . . . attributed to intelligent and ever-vigilant 3. Biographies of Persons in Charge of Professionals more anxious to impress enforcement of the Plant Quarantine Act Federal Agricultural Work, 1836 to Date. than inform ... or pompous people try- of 1912 by a staff of inspectors at our 4. Condensed History of the U. S. De- ing to show how much we know." We ^ Agriculture. principal maritime and border ports of partment of really are not, so let's try to write . . . entry. U. S. Customs and Public Health 5. Our Department Scientists. Like this and Not like this Achievements of officials cooperate. 6. Important Recent many people a substantial segment of A Department of Agriculture Scientists. the population know well fully cognizant After copies now on hand are ex- of Meat inspection under fee object interpose an objection hausted, and they have been especially made up of many comprising numerous f or- corrected for accuracy in the Bureau of THE STATUS of Federal meat inspec- forest units ests -f* wait hold in abeyance tion, so long carried on by the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, old No. 3, issue the regula- promulgate the regulation Abridged Chronology of Agriculture's Animal Industry, was somewhat changed tion - t carry out the effectuate or implement Part in the War, will be discontinued. by the recent Agricultural Appropriation policy the policy - * The following have been discontinued Act. as you requested pursuant to your request and copies are exhausted: Current List The service has heretofore been before, after prior to, subsequent to get the facts ascertain (secure) the of Top Officials of the Department of financed from public funds but, under data Agriculture (Abridged), hitherto num- the new system, effective July 1, the ask him interrogate the claimant tries to explain purports to construe 5 issued anew each month; old packers will pay fees for the service. bered and find it hard to encounter difficulty in inspectors, as No. 7, Outstanding Scientific Publica- The USDA will pay the clear difference marked discrepancy * begin (or start) initiate tions by USDA Research Workers Issued in the past, but will collect the cost from a (or institute) a project project by the Department of Agriculture; old the establishments served; moreover the complete the ar- consummate the arrange- * rangement No. 2, Constituent Agencies of the U. S. inspectors will still be selected and ap- ment in the first place in the initial instance i of Agriculture. Write pointed under Civil Service procedures Department about of the order of magnitude please do not phone—The Editor of and will retain their rights as Civil Serv- J USDA for copies of Nos. 1-6 and old 3. ice employees. In directing establish- Phone or write John H. Thurston, Of- ment of the new system the' Congress " fice of the Secretary, to get the abridged allotted $5,000,000 as a working capital PAIS-Club boys and girls list of top USDA officials, formerly our fund to start it off. SOUNDS ODD to you? Well, that's the ' No. 5. This service has usually cost about 11 million dollars of public funds annually, South American way when it comes to- ' 4-H Clubs. The Argentinian Govern- but it was always rendered with exceed- *" Landing repulsed ing economy. This sum averages about ment, through its General Bureau of EVERY SO often some citizen rises up to one cent a month per person in the Extension and Agricultural Development, for instance, is sponsoring youth clubs ^ sound off as to why we maintain quaran- United States. Even if the entire cost of patterned on our 4-H Clubs. There are . tines and what is the good of all the ef- meat inspection were passed along to now 700 local youth units, whereas only ' fort the Department makes to prevent in- consumers it would have negligible in- a few clubs existed in 1945, when active - sect infestation. What such citizens do fluence on the price of meat, nor would field organization began. not know is that many rapacious would- it have material effect on prices paid pro- * is four-leaf be invaders are stopped before they land ducers for their livestock. The same The membership symbol a here. A recent case in point concerns thoroughness and economy of inspection clover, but the initials P. A. I. S., spell- the mango fruitfly, a predatory native of will prevail under the new system as ing the Spanish word for "country," the Far East which got to Hawaii during under the old. individually stand for "Pensamiento," or 1 the war and almost slipped into the U. S. • thought; "Accion" or action; "Integ- of recent occasions. or on a couple ridad" or integrity; and "Salud" j Interested in FAO? But alert inspectors of the Bureau of health. Leaders down below credit the Food Entomology and Plant Quarantine found If you want to keep up with what the and Agriculture Organization of the United United States 4-H Clubs with having T 42 live maggots in overripe bananas in a to se- Nations is doing, vou should arrange inspired Argentina's program and one passenger's luggage on a ship from cure Its Information Service Bulletin pub- lished monthly. The variety of topics pre- of the leading organizers, Oscar P. Hawaii docking at San Pedro, Calif. Is astonishing and sented in even one Issue Chieza. studied Extension methods in They immediatley destroyed them, and one can readily see in FAO an Important new J force In world agricultural affairs. Address this country during the past several another projected landing of what is thus Patrick W. Condon. Office of Information. years. known in its more formal moments as USDA. Washington, D. C. 25.

USDA: September 15, 1947 1 —

Cartoon technique Smoke jumpers in Sask Brief but important For an interesting use of cartoon technique The Saskatchewan News, a weekly informa- to convey useful information see the publica- tional and news bulletin issued by the Bu- :v Write, please do not phone tions entitled "What Kind of Wool Do YOU reau of Publications in Regina, recounts, Market?" and "How Much Did YOUR Wool in its August 11 issue, exploits of Canadian This has become a common expression Bring?" on which Farm Credit Administra- smoke jumpers who fight forest fires. To e these short-handed days. Telephone mes- tion, Extension Service, and Production and quote: " 'Smoke jumping' is not a new idea, sages are time-consuming interruptions Marketing Administration cooperated nobly the United States Forest Service having effectively. 7. and often build up to incredible peaks. and adopted the scheme with excellent results More and more offices are asking that in- in recent years. However, it is new in this teroffice mail be used in lieu of the phone When does USDA reach you? country." The foresters of Sask studied American methods in use at Missoula, then whenever possible. That is imperative The Government Printing Office is doing a persuaded their provincial government to or- strictly job. fine job on USDA. The house organ emerges with USDA, now a one-person ganize a school and this same from the G. P. O. either on the date of issue undertake ^" Write, please do not phone, for materials modern fire-fighting method. or, as often as not, the previous Friday. If mentioned or offered or on all other busi- copies reach you late, distribution must be ness whenever possible. Whether in clogged within your own agency, office, lab- Patents Washington or in the field, just toss your oratory, division, or whatisit? If you'd like Policy regarding Foreign Patents on In- ->sentiments in the mail and they will re- to see USDA nearer the date of issue, but ventions Resulting from Research Financed ceive prompt attention. get it very late, try to find where the pipe by Department Funds, is outlined in Secre- is clogged and unstop it I tary's Memorandum No. 1200, August 13; Speaking writing procure from Secretary's Records, Plant and File Operations, D. Commenting on the article of this title USDA USDA, Washington 25, C. fin our July 7 issued Arthur Koehler, Forest We often make back reference to earlier Products Laboratory, remarks upon hearing issues of USDA. We have to do that to con- Snedecor retires serve space. Does your laboratory or office . two Tennessee farmers discuss their difficul- The famous statistician, founder and only ties in negotiating a road with their truck have a file of USDA? You would probably director of the Iowa State Statistical Labora- alter a rain. one: "The find it of value for reference. Some offices , heavy Said road was tory (organized in 1933), Geo. W. Snedecor, reference ~so boggy it like as pulled me and Henry index the issues as they come for has retired. Laudatory comment came in procure copies of most plumb down to the bottom." purposes. You can from all over. Prof. Snedecor joined Iowa your file by back issues of USDA to start State as a mathematics instructor 34 years Thompson, Office of Infor- Wool price supports writing to Elmer ago and has become a tradition and almost a 25, C, giving mation, U.S.DA. Washington D. legend during his lifetime. In 1923 he joined S. 1498 directs the Commodity Credit Cor- dates of those you want. You can him the with Henry A. Wallace and Charles F. Sarle ^poration to continue until Dec. 31, 1948, to of most missing is- get individual numbers in promoting a weekly conference of 20 support a price to producers of wool at the fac- sues from the editor of USDA. ulty research members to study multiple price it supported wool in 1946; authorizes regression other statistical CCC to adjust support prices for individual and methods. The twist to the vine This resulted in the Wallace-Snedecor bulle- I grades and qualities of wool and to make dis- tin Correlation and Machine Calculation counts for off-quality, inferior-grade, or The New York Botanical Garden was asked — poorly prepared wool; authorizes use of recently whether plants (and pig's tails) which attained worldwide respect. Snede- cor's outstanding career county and local committees and other au- which twine in one direction in the Northern cannot be summa- rized here, all get thorized agencies in carrying out the support Hemisphere reverse themselves in the South- but by means Statlab Review program; and provides that the CCC may, ern and twist the other way. The answer is for July 1 (vol. 2, No. 3) from Joseph writes C. Dodson, Statistical Lab, Iowa State Col- until Dec. 31, 1948, dispose of wool owned by NO. Fred J. Seaver of the Garden prevalent lege, Ames, Iowa, and read about it. Inci- it without regard to any restriction imposed that, though the notion js "quite nonprofessionals, a'nd even some bot- dentally the Statistical Lab has just issued ^ upon it by law. Approved August 5 (Public among its 1946-47 report; you might copy; Law 360, 80th Cong.). anists, there is apparently no foundation for want a this belief. It seems to be a tradition based it will be mailed from Ames on request. on a misunderstanding of some of Darwin's ' Extension workers especially statements." Darwin made some such state- Typists! Will find Looking Ahead in Extension Re- ment in his Movements and Habits of Climb- Can you hyphenate? Or do you suffer lations, the address delivered by Paul V. Kep- ing Plants (1882), but it involved two differ- from paralytic atrophy of hyphenation ner, assistant to the Director of Extension, ent species of the same plant. The Botanical muscle? Maybe you should be psychoana- before the ACE meeting at Minneapolis, Au- Garden refused to rule on the twist to pig's lyzed! But first why not try "Dr." Lynch's gust 7, of interest. They can get copies from tails and suggested the Zoological Garden as guaranteed hyphenation prescription. One Extension Information, Extension Service, the proper point of reference, but its some- dose and you hyphenate a hundred percent - in Washington. what arrogant sniffing implied that the fal- better. The editor tried it. "Dr." Lynch set lacy extended to the porcine species too. down a list of 18 words; he correctly hyhen- , Danger! ated 9 of them and went to the foot of the Where farmers get ideas I The new weed killer, 2,4—D, is a two-edged class. Since he was the only one in the ^sword and much more powerful than many Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn, class he had a chance to get ahead. He realize. Reports from Louisiana and Texas Ala., has just issued an informative com- turned the page and found a page and a half indicate extensive damage to cotton and munications study by Robert Leigh entitled of instructions en the syllabication of other field crops from 2,4—D dust when ap- "How Alabama Farmers Get Agricultural In- words. After beating this into his head plied to rice fields by plane, and blown over. formation." It is mimeographed and runs a while he tried another list of 18 words The dust is very injurious to any broad- about 40 pages, on one side. About one- "Dr." Lynch presented and got 17 of them ", * leaved crop plant. Use with care as a herbi- fourth the farmers surveyed derived their new right. If interested in this brief instruction cide and get expert advice if uncertain. ideas from neighbors and friends; next came course on proper hyphenation, address Miss farm magazines, newspapers, publications, Charline E. Lynch, Division of Training, What's in a flea's stomach farm meetings, and radio in that order. But Office of Personnel, USDA, Washington 25, we must remember that much of the infor- D. C, and get yourself a copy. J, Ordinarily, our first and only impulse is mation neighbors, friends, farm journals, promptly to squash the flea and we don't newspapers, and the radio disseminate orig- give a hang about what his "innards" may 200 counties inally came from State or Federal agricultural contain. Not so, however, with Marcel L. F. agencies. If interested in the detailed an- The 200 counties where Federal crop in- Foubert, a photographer in the Photo Labo- alysis of the findings send to Auburn for a surance on wheat will be in effect during j ratory of Plant and Operations, who retired copy of the study. the coming year were announced, August r July 31, 1947, after more than 29 years of 18, by Gus F. Geissler, Manager of the Fed- i service. Foubert's successful photomicro- eral Crop Insurance Corporation. For de- U graphs of micro-organisms existing in the Says a visitor to Japan tails write, please do not phone, Press Serv- stomachs of fleas were used by Department "Would you like to plant, cultivate and ice, USDA, Washington 25, D. C. and ask for , scientists in combatting certain diseases in harvest all your grain and other crops by ''the highly prized herd of dairy cows at the hand? Would you like to stand in mud and No. 1862. Agricultural Research Center at Beltsville. water up to your knees to plant and harvest Foubert also made some of the first success- your principal crop? Would you like to farm Farm program ful color photographs of plant diseases, and without an automobile, without a truck, The Congressional Record dated August his untiring efforts, patients, and photo- without a tractor? ... If your answer is 15 contained Rep. Hope's Report on the graphic skill over the years have contributed YES, you'd probably think farming in Japan f Work and Activities of the House Committee i much to the scientific achievements of the is fine . . . But if you'd been raised on a North on Agriculture for the First Session of the | Department. His photographs have ap- Dakota wheat farm, as I was . . . you'd likely peared in many departmental publications conclude farming in Japan is hard, back- Eightieth Congress; it includes summaries and have been reproduced in the scientific breaking work, with a mightly low standard of bills reported by the Committee. See " literature of many other countries. of living in return." pages A4387-91.

USDA: September 15, 1947 3 — —

FAO delegation to Geneva Radio people What the 80th Congress did The U. S. delegation to the Geneva con- We used this lead for a BBI item in the A Digest of Agrictiltural Legislation ference of the Food and Agriculture Organi- July 7 USDA, pg. 3, with reference to a mimeo- Enacted During the First Session of the 80th zation, which began August 25, was headed graphed report made by Dana Reynolds. Congress has been prepared. Besides leg s- -,* bv Under Secretary D;dd, with Leslie A. Ra.dio Service, to Ken Gapen, chief thereof. lation approved—both public and private Wheeler. Director of Office of Foreign Agri- We had more requests than we had copies. laws— it lists and digests Bills Vetoed. House cultural Relations, and Director Wm. A. Jump Now we have copies of a report Dana made and Senate Resolutions, Concurrent Resell- *** of Budget and Finance as alternates. The to Ken on his June 2-22 trip to West Virginia. tions. and President's Reorganization Plans. agricultural experts attending the delegates Kansas, Utah, Wyoming, and Oklahoma. We The material Is dated August 15 and Is fully .< were F. F. Elliott, Bureau of Agricultural Eco- think anybody in radio work; county agents indexed. Procure copies from the Division nomics; E. I. Kotok, Forest Service; W. V. in particular, will find hints in it of value to of Legislative Reports, Office of Budget and Lambert, Agricultural Research Administra- them. Write, please do not phone, for copies Finance, USDA. Washington 25, D. C; phone tion; Duncan Wall, FAR: and Homer Brink- to T. Swann Harding. Office of Information, Ext. 4654. ley. National Council of Farm Co-ops. The USDA, Washington 25. D. C. Congressional advisers were Senators Elmer Charles E. Kellogg \ Thomas and Milton R. Young and Repre- Production Credit System The Chief of the Division of the Soil Sur- sentatives Reid F. Murray and Orville Zim- The Production Credit System is a 16-page vey, Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and merman. Albert S. Goss represented the pamphlet, available from Information and Agricultural Engineering, has returned from Grange, W. Raymond Ogg the Farm Bureau, Extension Division. Farm Credit Administra- a 3-month visit of Europe and Africa, which *i and James G. Patton the Farmers' Union. tion, which clearly, concisely, and under- included attendance at the Mediterranean standably treats this permanent short-term Conference of Pedology in southern France Experiment station report credit system established by the Farm Credit and Algeria, a Paris conference for the re- Connecticut Agricultural Experiment Sta- Act of 1933. organization of the International Society of tion. New Haven, has issued its 64-page an- Soil Science, a visit to Rothamsted Expc-ri- y nual report. It is entitled "Science Works Hen hypnosis mental Station in England and to the Uni- research versity College for Agriculture," and shows how A British doctor reported In the Lancet for of North Wales, and a 5-week in of the eight phases tour of Belgian Congo as a guest of its aids the farmer each July 19: "I placed a hen with its beak on a Na- of the station's work. It is free to residents tional Institute for the Study of Agronomy. chalk line (Jolly difficult . . .) and on letting others see it in libraries. of Connecticut; go gradually the hen stayed there—nose to the line (looking a most frightful ass) until Dr. Stout to OES Nutrition and Symbiosis after half a minute she gradually raised her Dr. W. B. Stout of Production and Market- There is a singularly informative, fully head about two inches off the ground, then ing Administration, has joined the staff of documented article on this subject by Dr. the spell snapped and she was off with a Office of Experiment Stations to coordinate —** E. C. Owen, Hannah Dairy Research Insti- squawk." A white tape pinned on the lawn USDA-State research programs dealing with tute, Kirkhill, Ayr, in Nature (London) for worked even better. But on repeating the all phases of marketing research carried on the Library. Much of experiment without a chalk line or tape, "No July 19, available from by the agricultural experiment stations. . „ the discussion concerns the interesting man- success at all. The hen was abusive and The position assumes great importance in ner in which rumen bacteria digest cellulose, violent and escaped rapidly." The doc now view of the Research and Marketing Act. whereas the ruminant itself can do no such wants a grant to repeat the experiments with tapes of different colors, coronal well thing. Evidence is also presented to show as as The Award Eoards that man, as well as other animals, at times sagittal in direction. Vocabulary-improve- produces B-vitamines by bacterial action In ment class form to the right. This man The Superior Awards Board met July 21, Service his colon. would probably say he was glabrous when he the Distinguished Awards Board on went bald! the 25th. (See USDA for September 1 for

membership of the Boards. ) The bureaus REA publication New Millions for Research submitted 92 nominations to the former, 32 Planning Your Farmstead Wiring and to the latter, which are now in the hands Lighting, Miscellaneous Publication 597, from The American Journal of Pharmacy for of the Secretary. The Government Printing May contains an article under this title dis- Rural Electrification Administration, con- Office is working on the award certificates. cussing the Agricultural , tains a wealth of information on the subject. Research and Mar- the Mint on the medals. A relatively small keting Act 1946. editor bo written and diagrammed as to give it maxi- of The of USDA has number of bureaus refrained from submit- a few separates of it. The same applies to mum practical utility. Moreover, what is ting recommendations to the Boards. (See • i the article entitled "Relining the said about the farm home is applicable to American USDA for March 31-April 14 for the original in the issue other homes as well. Stomach" June of the same account of this awards program.) journal (which came out 2 days after the , Tomorrow's Food May issue) ! It is a historical discussion of changes in U. S. food preferences. Write, Cotton mechanization of review this book, A reading the of sub- please do not phone. The talk entitled "The Department of / titled "The Coming Revolution in Nutrition." Agriculture's Position on Cotton Mechaniza- and written by James Rorty and N. Philip If you want details on tion." delivered by Assistant to the Secretary m Norman, M. D. (Prentice Hall, publisher. E. D. White, before the Cotton Mechanization Aerosol control of greenhouse insects get New York City), which appears in Soil Con- Conference, Stoneville, Miss.. August 19. Is 1 Press Release No. 1833; or on the farm labor " servation for August, will do much to tell you well worth your serious attention. Procure camp liquidation program, get No. 1837. whether you want to read it. The review it by writing Press Service, USDA. Wash- Write, please do not phone. Press Service, was prepared by W. A. Albrecht. Soil Con- ington 25, D. O, and asking for No. 1864. ^ servation is a monthly issued by Soil Conser- USDA. Washington 25. D. C. vation Service at SI a year, and this issue plant quarantines contains many other items of Interest. Sunflower protein New The importation of foreign and of Hawai- Retirement plans Until recently the value of sunflower pro- ian-grown citrus nursery stock was pro- tein was in dispute, though the sunflower is hibited by two plant quarantine orders, an- - ^ If haven't, Do you have any? you you grown for food and feed in many parts of the nounced August 19, by Chief Annand of the may be bored to death on retirement, and we world. Recent work by Grau and Almqulst Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quaran- ,, - do mean death. For, without plans for the (Proc. Soc. Exp. Biol. 1945 60 373) seems to tine, effective September 15. For details constructive use of leisure, many retirees have cleared this up by showing that South write Press Service, USDA, Washington 25, actually do die prematurely. However, one American sunflower meal promotes chick D. C. and ask for No. 1874. d employee writes: "As a matter of fact, all my liio has been a preparation for retire- growth as well as casein or as sardine meal, ment, since I have developed an Interest In nor is its biological value Improved by add- so many things that It Is difficult to see how T ing lysine. At a 20-percent level it seemed can ever have a dull moment or be bored." to be satisfactory as a complete source of 15, 1947 Vol. VI, No. 19 That's the method—and the spirit! amino acids for growing chicks. Since the September plant also yields a good oil it seems deserving USDA Is published fortnightly for distri- Farm Science in Industry of further consideration and research. bution to employees only, by direction of Dallas Burch of the Bureau of Animal In- the Secretary of Agriculture and with the fiber dustry has prepared a 10-page mimeographed Peanut approval of the Director of the Budget, as containing administrative Information re- statement on this topic. It shows the bene- Florida Grower (Tampa) for August car- quired for proper transaction of the public fits derived by private enterprise, bu ries a readable account of protein liber pos- business. Industry, from research service ac- sibilities, with emphasis the and and on peanut, Address correspondence to Editor of USDA. of various address tles USDA agencies. To pro- drawn from an delivered a while Office of Information, U. S. Department of cure copies address D. S. Burch. Agricul- back by Walter M. Scott. Director of the Agriculture, Washington 25, D. C. Wash- tural Research Administration, USDA, Wash- Southern Regional Research Laboratory, New ington or field employees, please write ington 25, D. C. Orleans. instead of phoning.

U. S. G0VCGNMCHT PRINTING OFFICE: 1*47 SHARE THIS COPY Personnel management GEORGE D. HALSEY has again written an excellent book. This one is entitled "Handbook of Personnel Management" and Harper & Bros, published it. Nearly ^ 400 pages long and divided into 31 chap- ._„ ,__ S^- ters, the book discusses every phase of personnel management from job analysis — ,—„____^_-_. and recruiting employees, on. It offers helpful suggestions every page of the way. 1947 FOR SEPTEMBER 29, In chapter IX, where information book- lets for new employees come up for dis- cussion, we find USDA Handbook For Your Information outlined, while chapter Safety in EPQ Intrepid flyers, FCA dept. XXX, Personnel Management in the Public Service, is wholly devoted to IN COMMON with practically all De- NOT SO long ago Ward W. Fetrow and USDA "because it is generally conceded partment agencies the Bureau of Ento- Ralph A. Battles of Farm Credit Ad- to have one of the best personnel pro- mology and Plant Quarantine has the ministration flew to Japan for a 2 -month grams in the public service." hazard of automobile operation. Risks stretch to study agricultural co-ops and We simply cannot begin here to sug- more peculiar to its work are the han- farm credit, while Ross Silkett and Wal- gest the richness and value of the book. dling of poisonous chemicals and gases, ter Bauer, also of FCA, winged it to Ger- Anyone interested in any step of per- working in woods and over rough terrain, many. The Japs were still discovered sonnel management whether tests for working with edged tools and in danger- going through revolving doors the — workers, employee interviews, employ- ous places like dock areas and the holds "wrong" way, reading books "back- ment of the physically handicapped, of ships; and the hazards of camp oper- wards," and putting paper clips on the training programs, merit ratings, cor- ations, not the least of which is epidem- "wrong" side of the papers—according rection and discipline, lay-offs and dis- ics. EPQ also operates airplanes experi- to US! When it comes to farming they missals, grievances, accidents, health, mental, and for large-scale dusting and and their work animals, including oxen, recreation, or self-audits—will be in- spraying. a few horses, and their wives and structed and stimulated. Mr. Halsey, Different risks, of course, call for dif- daughters, man the plow, hoe, sickle, now Personnel Officer of Farm Credit ferent preventive measures. Rather than and cart; hand methods are usual, and Administration, Third District, Colum- to list these in detail emphasis should be the plows resemble those of Egypt in the bia, S. C, and formerly Superintendent placed on the over-all principles which tice of the Pharoahs. But a Jap co-op of Bloomingdale Bros., Personnel Direc- the Bureau uses in its safety program. is the works; the Jap farmer there gets tor for Woodward & Lothrop, and Em- These are, first of all, the selling of safety his supplies, markets his products, and ployment Manager for the Cincinnati as a job factor and the fixing with the procures credit. Credit is needed for Milling Machine Co., writes clearly, con- supervisor of the responsibility for the fertilizer and to meet ordinary family factually, and in- safety of operations under his control. emergencies; but the Jap farmer, aided cisely, interestingly, formatively out of a wealth of experience. The Bureau considers safety as a defi- by inflation, is better off than ever he nite line function. Planning for safety was. Few crippled war veterans were Contact him or his publisher about the includes supervisory conferences, the de- observed and the people in rural areas book, or try your bookstore or the velopment of the best and safest work looked well fed. Library. techniques, and an analysis of accident In Germany, things are tough, as you experience. New employees are trained already know. Shortages are generally how best to do their Jobs and are told and apparent; the food situation is critical. Carnivorous sucklings shown the dangers they may encounter Germany is less than 50 percent self- and how to cope with them. Training is sufficient in feeding herself, as compared Some years ago Dr. Clara Davis performed experiments to demonstrate that newly pursued both through on-the-job work with 80 percent before the war. A many weaned infants could safely manage a com- and the use of manuals. pound of coffee costs 400 marks in the plete adult diet of natural, unsophisticated Safe equipment is important. This in- black market, though 80 percent of all foodstuffs, and could also select for them- cludes gas masks, laboratory devices, the selves a more nutritious combination than agricultural products go through offi- their pediatrician was likely to prescribe for use of pipes and pumps in the mixing of cial sources. The largest incentive is to them. Now Ruth M. Leverton, Ph. D., of the Experiment Station insecticides, proper clothing for woods consume or hoard, not to produce. The Nebraska Agricultural physicians, has work, the regular conditioning of tools (Lincoln) , working with farms usually consist of strips quite far shown that babies can advantageously be a thorough periodical inspection of and apart and the farmer has to walk from fed milk via the bottle—strained beef, veal, motor equipment. It is insisted that ac- pork, or lamb being added to their formulas other. farming as we one to the Power are 6 weeks old Just sufficient to cidents shall not be glossed over. It is when they — know it Just doesn't exist. Versatile an- bring the formula's protein content up to the Bureau's conviction that a thorough percent, and averaging about an ounce imals supply power, milk, meat, hides, 25 investigation not only fixes responsibility daily. The meat-fed babies appeared satis- and fertilizer, and farming is intensive fled, slept well, and improved In physical for each accident but insures fairness to condition, nor did they develop the anemia to the last degree. In the American everyone concerned, protects the rights characteristic of their age. But don't toss of people who may have suffered per- zone 66 percent of the farms are 12 acres baby a porkchop; he couldn't manage that. And get details from Dr. Leverton if you want sonal injuries or property or less. All were glad to get back home damage, and to experiment In the art of inducing your helps to prevent similar occurrences. and delighted to be Americans. cherub to drink some meat.

760972°—47 - 3 years, our Bureau of Entomology and BAE at home and abroad Plant Quarantine has developed greatly Brief but Important improved methods of protecting stored WHAT'S NEW in U. S. farming was Collins' awards grains, using such things as residual- discussed by Dr. Sherman E. Johnson, Former Ensign and naval flyer, George G. type DDT sprays, and seed treatments Collins, now In the Examination Section of Assistant Chief of Bureau of Agricultural Production and Marketing Administration's with dusts containing 1 percent of DDT, Economics, at the International Confer- Audit Unit, was In effect awarded three or nonpoisonous dusts such as magnesium medals in a single ceremony on August 21. ence of Agricultural Economists, Dart- oxide. The presentation was made by the com-' ington Hall, Totnes, Devon, England, mandant of The Potomac River Naval Com- Dr. Johnson says that depredations of August 25-September 7. Other invited mand in Washington "by direction of the fungi exact another over-all tax of 1 per- President." Mr. Collins won the Navy's Air delegates Included Dr. Joseph Ackerman Medal, two Gold Stars In lieu of Air cent on the world's grain crop. These and of the Farm Foundation and some 18 Medals 2, and 3, for meritorious combat flying *>| losses occur chiefly in humid regions dur- in Pacific waters. He says he prefers his representatives of Land-Grant Colleges. ing periods of high temperature. Heavi- present job In the South Building despite a While abroad. Dr. Johnson also visited fighting inheritance. Mr. Collins' great- est losses are in wheat and corn. Activ- Denmark, Holland, Belgium, and France. grandfather, Capt. Lytrell Hampton, rode ity of fungi is also the chief cause of the throughout the War Between the States with Dr. F. F. Elliott, Associate BAE Chief, his famous brother, Gen. Wade Hampton, heating of moist grain. Armed with was one of the American delegates to the the Confederate cavalry leader. enzymes, the fungi cause rapid deteriora- 3d Annual Food and Agriculture Or- tion of the grains they attack, while ex- What REA loans did ganization Conference in Geneva, Swit- Approximately cessive heating also makes stored cereals 396.000 farm families and" zerland. August 25. Needed lines of ac- other rural consumers In 44 States and unfit for food. The best protection is Alaska will get electric service as a result tion as to the world food situation were to keep the grain as dry and as cool as of loans approved by Rural Electrification decided upon by representatives of some Administration during the fiscal year which reasonably possible. Sealed storage of 50 nations. ended June 30 last. The loans will enable very dry grain is occasionally desirable. borrowers to build over 135,000 miles of new At the International Statistical Con- power lines and to Increase the capacity of ference held in Washington, September some systems already built. Loans approved Just ignorance amount to a little over a quarter of a bUllon 6-18, Dr. Margaret Jarman Hagood, BAE, dollars, in the main to locally owned and "i presented a paper on the limitations of A WHILE back the Office of Personnel set operated rural electric co-ops. potentialities of the application of the out to ascertain USDA employees' knowl- World Fiber Survey experimental design in sociol- theory of edge about information in its field. They The Food and Agriculture Organization of ogy. Dr. Charles F. Sarle, of the same used a questionnaire. There were 50 the United Nations has issued a 176-page World Fiber Survey containing a wide variety Bureau, discussed the agricultural statis- questions on it—concerned with such of useful information for all interested in tics program of BAE. things as retirement rules, what to do natural or synthetic fibers. USDA research when accidents happen, reductions in on synthetic protein fibers is well covered. Purchase the survey from FAO in Washing- force, separations, annuities, sick and an- ton, D. C. for $1, or see a Library copy. Voracious insects, et al. nual leave, appeals procedures, war- Foot-and-mouth notation service privileges, transfers—both volun- H. Nelson Elliott, one of the leading U.S. PESSIMISTIC PROPHETS have long tary and officialy ordered, and so on. wild-game experts, has joined the Mexican- predicted that the time might come when After reading them, and finding out how U.S. Commission directing the fight against in Mexico, to advis. human beings would surrender world much you have to know in order to know foot-and-mouth disease on the extermination of infected cloven supremacy to the insects and — you how little you know, the editor is not sur- footed wild game within the main zone quar- might add the fungi. But insects and prised that many employees were ignor- antined there. The virus attacks all cloven- domestic; unless fungi might also consume or destroy footed animals, wUd or ant of these things. destroyed, infected deer, antelope, and wild enough food to make humans starve! They should not be ignorant, of course, swine can quickly spread the virus. Dr. Elliott has long been employed in the wild- In a time of world food shortage, which for booklets called "What's Your Score?", life service of the Department of the Interior. i the Food and Agriculture Organization "What's Your Suggestion?", and materi- River Basin predicts will be as bad, if not worse, the als on the Department's organization and USDA in Missouri copies of a report on the coming year than it has so far been, its personnel policy, as well as employee We have some Program of the USDA Within the Mis- much to much food is paid as an invol- handbooks are available. Yet more than souri River Basin. July 1, 1947-June 30, 1948. untary tax to insects and fungi. half the employees had never seen them. addressed to the Missouri Basin Inter-Agency Committee and prepared by Gladwin E. As this is written, a Technical Meet- Supervisors were better informed than Toung. USDA Field Representative. The re- ing of Experts on Losses of Food in Stor- nonsupervisory employees and field per- port is well written and well organized; it broad departmental program and age Is being held by FAO in London. sonnel better than Washington workers. gives the then details what each agency contemplates Drs. R. T. A. of ' Cotton and G. Johnson Make it your duty to be informed about doing in the Basin. It is full of interesting a copy USDA are among those in attendance, these matters. If you want more details and useful Information. If you want do not phone, T. Swann Harding. the former being an expert on insects write please on the questionnaire, the materials you Office of Information, USDA. Washington 25. that damage stored cereal, the latter a should read, or related matters in this D. C. cereal pathologist. Between the insects A. Martin, Division field, address James Lost in the garbage and the fungi cereal grains have quite a of Organization and Personnel Manage- The average rate of loss in retailing fresh J time of it. ment. Office of Personnel, USDA. Wash- fruits and vegetables in bulk. In self-service food stores, amounts to nearly 7 percent of Dr. Cotton estimates that after har- ington 25, D. C. the retail value of the produce handled,* vest, Insects regularly ruin about 5 per- or 7.4 percent of the value of actual sales. Crossbred cent of the world's cereal food a very The Cow sav $74 loss per SI. 000 worth sold. Most of — Marketing and If you are Interested In the controversy set this loss Is garbage loss. See considerable tax to pay for nothing. August, issued off by the Bureau of Dairy Industry's now Transportation Situation for Such losses could be largely avoided by famous dairy-cow crossbreeding experiment bv Bureau of Agricultural Economics, to get Therein Donald R. Stokes, summa- use of well-known and improved storage you might like to see the article of this title details. In the summer 1947 Farm Quarterly (Cin- rizes the survey which provided these and methods and facilities. During the past cinnati, Ohio). many other Interesting figures.

2 USDA: Seqtember 29, 1947 Equus caballus demobilized Monthly Labor Review Finest Mexican dairy herd This large solid-hoofed herbiverous mam- This periodical from the Bureau of Labor The finest dairy herd in Mexico has been foot-and- mal—a horse, to you—has been let out of Statistics, available from the Superintendent slaughtered in the drive against the Army, almost certainly for good. The of Documents at $3.60 a year, often contains mouth disease, which is no respector of other day 66 Army horses were auctioned off some material of agricultural interest. It owners, animals, or breeding aristocracy. The at the West Point stables. The man on made its first change in format and organ- herd of 270 animals belonged to the Fer- horseback—knight, cavalier, chevalier, cabel- ization in 32 years of publication with the nandez Rubio brothers, owners of a hacienda Iero, cavalryman—is in retreat. Management July issue. It is more attractive, easier to near Queretaro; many of the cows had high and care of the horse has ceased to be an read, and better organized than before. records and there were 103 registered Hol- soldier's edu- essential part of the American There is an article on migrant labor in this steins among them. One bull was a national cation. The spark plug has replaced the issue. champion for four consecutive years. This spur. But the cavalry died hard. There was step evidences Mexican determination to rid really no tank army in World War I, for those Negro agricultural students itself of the plague. who served with the armored divisions then Enrollment of agricultural students in the were detached from cavalry, infantry, or 2 private and 17 land-grant Negro colleges Starvation specter other services. But today the 60-ton tank teaching agriculture in the South was 1,875 features of the starvation spec- is the equivalent of the armored knight. The gaunt last year, of which 1,219 were GI's, as com- Di- The War Department is forming an armored ter were in evidence when Sir John Orr, pared with a total of 1,764 for 1940. arm in its own right. Yet, so tenacious is rector General of the Food and Agriculture tradition, that even it is built around the Organization, addressed the FAO meeting in Put DDT in the doghouse remnants of the cavalry, but good old Equus Geneva in August. Half the world will suf- caballus Is on his last legs in the Army. Also put it in the quarters of other pets fer from famine this winter. "The shadow of who roam afield and bring home objection- economic crises is already upon us" and there UNASYLVA able insects. The household spray with a is "danger of drifting into a third world refined kerosene base and 5 percent of DDT to That is the name of the new magazine on war." FAO should have power do more is for the purpose. forestry and forest products published bi- added best than merely collect statistics. Millions in monthly by the Food and Agriculture Organ- Europe will be worse fed next spring than Applied Scientific Research ization of the United Nations. It is a hand- during World War n. Continued hunger re- some affair with pages about 8V4 by ll'A This new periodical publication began to duces human beings to the animal level and inches, good paper stock, well illustrated, appear in September from Martinus Nijhoff, tends to blunt the world's conscience. Food and having such expert contributors to Vol. The Hague, The Netherlands. It is in two production must be doubled during the next 1 No. 1, July-August 1947, as the chief for- sections: A, Mechanics, Heat; and B, Electro- 25 years if all people in the world are to be esters of the United States and the Canadian physics, Acoustics, Optics. Articles will be, reasonably well fed. Thus Sir John summed Governments. Annual subscription is $3.50. preferably, in English, but French and Ger- up. Contact Documents Office, FAO, 2000 Massa- man are accepted. Subscriptions, to the pub- chusetts Avenue NW„ Washington 6, D. C. lisher, are $7.60 per volume. Manuscripts New assistant chief of BAIC should be sent to Dr. Ir. C. W. Kosten, Lab- Dr. George Irving- Maine-born and edu- Where farmers get ideas oratorium voor Technische Physica, Mijn- W. — cated at Washington became Assis- bouwplein 11, Delft. George — According to a study carried on in Vermont tant Chief of the Bureau of Agricultural and by Extension Service and Bureau of Agricul- Newsprint fodder Industrial Chemistry on September 7, with tural Economics, three media stand out as which agency he has been associated since sources of information: Farm papers and The International Chemical Conference 1942, though he was in USDA and other Gov- magazines, the county agents, and friends which met recently in London learned that ernment agencies for the past 12 years. He and neighbors. About 1 farmer in 4 says cattle (but not pigs) could be fed on sulfite started in as a laboratory helper in the Na- printed materials, chiefly farm papers and pulp from which newsprint is made. The tional Bureau of Standards. He has special- magazines, are the best source, and more than Norwegian Agricultural School at Valleback ized in biochemistry and joined the staff of nine-tenths of all farmers interviewed men- reported that bleached sulfite cellulose could the Southern Regional Research Laboratory tioned either the Extension Service or printed be utilized, if propery supplemented with iso- materials. The study is 110 pages long. protein. Chopped straw processed with 1.2- 5 years ago. He and his colleagues first 1.5 percent sodium hydroxide solution be- lated tomatin, the substance which imparts Storing organic chemicals came an acceptable animal feed. wilt-resistance to tomato plants. His work in BAIC has mostly concerned the proteins Any of you who use organic chemicals may What is malted milk? and the biologically active compounds. He find useful information in a processed item has headed the Bureau's division on the lat- by S. I. Gertler and Milton S. Schechter, That sounds like a $64 question, in view ter, at Agricultural Research Center, Belts- Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quaran- of the fact that so many things are not what ville, Md., since 1944. tine, entitled "A System for Storing Organic they seem these days. In explanation, George Chemicals." To procure it, contact Insect E. Holm, who heads the Dairy Research Lab- Pest Survey and Information, EPQ, Gilbert oratories, Bureau of Dairy Industry, says: Organization charts J. Haeussler, in charge. "Malted milk is made by concentrating and We have copies of a sort of informal, un- drying a mixture of whole milk and liquid official and very much simplified block chart Graduate school's 27th year obtained from mash of ground barley malt of the Department's present organization. and wheat flour, with or without the addi- They are just about the size of the page Opening of the Graduate School's Fall tion of sodium chloride, sodium bicarbonate, you are reading, or sheet Semester on September 22 marked the be- of a of typewriter and potassium bicarbonate. Prior to its use paper, and will have to do until such time ginning of 27 years of service for Federal the mash is treated in such a manner that as detailed employees, particularly in Agriculture. a more official chart can be pre- the full enzymic action of the malt extract is pared. They merely show the agencies "as Graduate School officials are striving to meet obtained. Moistened barley grain is allowed is." If you want copies write, please do not current and future needs of USDA and other to germinate for from 5 to 7 days at 50" F. individ- phone, the editor of USDA and order up to Federal employees. More than 200 and is then dried at a low temperature to six—or as few as you can get along with. ual courses in 8 major fields are being of- preserve its disastatic activity. A mash made fered during the Fall Semester. New courses of the dried barley grain, ground to a powder, Co-ops on the march being offered for the first time include: and from 3 to 10 times its quantity of wheat Poultry Husbandry; Beekeeping; Advances flour, is allowed to react at a favorable tem- The facts presented in The Cooperative in Plant Breeding and Genetics; Introduc- perature until the starch has been converted Challenge, a new book by Bertram B. Fowler, tion to Public Information Media; Safety into dextrin and maltose. The barley husks (Little, Brown & Co., Boston, publishers, or Engineering; Economics of Marketing; En- are separated from the liquor, which is then borrow a Library copy) should be of great gineering in Materials Supply Operations, to mixed with whole milk. This mixture is interest to many USDA workers. mention only a few. concentrated and then dried, either in a vacuum pan equipped with powerful stirrers Those whale steaks Canadian farm aid or on heated drums enclosed in a vacuum You have no doubt read about the whale Frank Shefrin, an economist in the Cana- chamber." steaks the British now buy unrationed and dian Marketing Service, discusses Canadian which, properly cooked and garnished, are Farm-Aid Programs, in Foreign Agriculture Anniversaries said to resemble sirloin. The attractive for August—September, which also contains a The Bureau of Agricultural Economics at- English-born lady who supervises the dis- discussion of landlord-tenant relationship in tained the age of 25 years during the past tribution of this house organ, Mrs. Monica Japan, by W. I. Ladejinsky, of USDA, drawn July. The Grain Futures Act, which became T. Crocker, Office of Personnel, has tasted from his visit there. Foreign Agriculture law September 21, 1922, was also 25 years them. She spent her vacation in England. issues from the Office of Foreign Agricultural old; it was amended by the Commodity Ex- She reports that whale is not bad at all; Relations. Subscriptions are $1 a year, cash, change Act of June 15, 1936; this gives Com- furthermore fresh summer vegetables made from the Superintendent of Documents, modity Exchange Administration a twenty- the U.K. home diet fairly satisfying. She Government Printing Office, Washington, fifth anniversary also though, as CEA, it is a didn't lose as much weight as she antici- D. C. relatively new unit. pated!

USDA: September 29, 1947 — — Words FAO and farmers Oxygen fiends Early In Wall, Special "Exactness in the use of words Is the basis August Duncan They tell a story about the farmer who was Assistant of all serious thinking. You will get nowhere to our Director of Foreign Agricul- such a fanatic on ventilation that he couldn't tural Relations, a fine, earthy without It. Words are clumsy tools, and it made human, take a noonday nap in a pasture without fingers talk about FAO and the Oklahoma Farmer, is very easy to cut one's with them, knocking down two panels of fence to let in Stillwater. Okla. It is as good and read- and they need the closest attention In han- the air in. If any of you happen to be fanat- able a digest of the what, how, and why of dling; but they are the only tools we have, ics on fresh air your friends mutter "O. F." the Food and Agriculture Organization from — and imagination Itself cannot work without behind your back, meaning oxygen fiend the dirt farmer's standpoint as we have seen. them. You must master the use of them, or consider this reply by our leading medical If you want a copy write, please do not phone, you will wander forever guessing at the journal to a physician who wrote in regard- T. Swann Harding, Office of Information, mercy of mere impulse and unrecognized ing ventilation in houses: "In ordinary homes USDA, Washington 25, D. C. assumptions and arbitrary associations, car- the spontaneous leakage of air through cracks ried away with every wind of doctrine." and crevices and from opening of doors Is Rain came in Anadarko Justice Felix Frankfurter In Reading of Stat- ample to maintain normal oxygen concentra- utes, Columbia Law Review, May 1947; quoted Intending during August to create rain tion and to keep the air fresh. It is desir- from Allen's Essay on Jeremy Bentham, In to assuage its own dryness, three citizens able to ventilate kitchens and bathrooms by The Social and Political ideas "of the Revolu- of Chickasha, Okla., dumped 105 pounds of means of an exhaust fan In order to remove tionary 181. ed. 1931). Era 199 (Hearnshaw solid carbon dioxide Into a cloud 13,500 feet odors, excessive heat, and moisture at the above their town. The rains came, but so source." Economic Report did a sudden strong wind which blew the The editor of USDA has a baker's dozen half-inch of moisture over to Anadarko, Blue Ridge Parkway protection copies of the Midyear Economic Report of while Chickasha remained bone-dry. The the President, transmitted to the Congress Anadarko Chamber of Commerce rose to the Under a Joint agreement between Agricul- July 21, 1947. This is supplementary to the occasion, however, and thanked Chickasha ture and Interior, the National Park and the similar report transmitted January 8, 1947, for the favor by wire. Next the scientists Forest Services have combined to protect and is prepared with the advice and assistance must learn how to tether the clouds from the natural features and beauty along the of the Council of Economic Advisers and the which they expect rain so as to reap the route of the Blue Ridge Parkway being con- Cabinet members. It Is a report with which reward of their diligence and deliver the structed to connect the Shenandcah and the we should all have some degree of familiarity. moisture where needed. Great Smoky Mountains national parks. For After the editor's supply is exhausted, pro- details write Press Service for release No. 1959. cure at 25 cents (cash) each from the Super- W. E. Hearn intendent of Documents, Government Print- This veteran of the soil inspection staff Are all U. S. farmers now rich? ing Office, in Washington, or borrow Library retired after 46 years' service. Born on a You might think so, If you confined your copies. farm near Pittsboro, N. O, in 1877, he grad- reading to the articles In popular magazines uated from the University of North Caro- and periodicals. But If you examine Mar- Science stories lina, and accepted employment the year fol- garet Jarman Hagood's study, Farm Operator lowing, 1901, In the field service of USDA's Science Digest (Chicago) for October con- Family Level of Living Indexes for Counties Division of Soils. He came to Washington as tains a somewhat speculative but nonethe- of the U.S.. 1940 and 1945 (Bureau of Agri- Inspector of the southeastern region in 1913, less fascinating story about insects called cultural Economics) you will find that the his last inspection having been in Loudoun "Willie and the Super-bugs", as well as an level of living actually declined In about County, Va., in 1947. He also stuck to the article, illustrated by raindrops with fists in 30 U.S. counties, between 1940 and 1945. USDA, despite an offer at better salary as them, called "The Power of Raindrops," and Using the average of living for all U.S. Professor of Soils at N. C. State College oi telling how they contribute to soil erosion, counties in 1945 as 100. the same stood Agriculture, Raleigh, in 1924. He highly and what soil conservationists do about the was at only 80 in 1940. But Mississippi, for in- proficient and as highly esteemed. problem. stance, stood at only 22 in 1940 and rose to only 32 percent of the U.S. level in 1945. Marshall S. Wright Produce markets whereas the respective figures for New Jersey Marshall S. Wright, Technical Assistant were 176 140. the average index Your attention is called to a Farm Credit and Whereas Administration publication, by W. M. Hurst, to the Chief, Office of Plant and Operations, was 115 in 1940. and 137 in 1945 for the North- President of the American Con- entitled "Farmers' Produce Markets In the was elected past, the respective figures were only 50 and gress on Surveying and Mapping at its an- 66 for the South. Prosperity Is spotty and United States, Part II, Plans and Facilities." nual meeting In Washington, August T4 and uneven. There are still poor farmers and If at all interested In this subject you will 15. Congress has membership of over counties. Miss Hagood's processed find much information In this processed pub- The a poor See International her lication by the Senior Agricultural Engineer, 1,400 in 37 countries. Thus publication, or article In July Agricul- recognition has accorded another the Situation, BAE. Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricul- been of tural per- tural Engineering. Department's scientific and technical sonnel. Mr. Wright has long been associ- Dr. W. B. Stout Of scientific interest ated with the surveying and mapping activi- ties of the Department, having served in the Dr. Stout, who left Production and Market- Just before he left laboratory research, in Forest Service, the Soil Conservation Service, ing Administration to Join the staff of Chief 1928, the editor of USDA had a curious slde- and the Office of Land Use Coordination. Trullinger of the Office of Experiment Sta- swlping contact with the late Sir F. Gowland His career also includes service in the old tions, as mentioned in USDA, September 1, Is Hopkins, recently deceased British scientist General Land Office (now the Bureau of widely known in land-grant college and ex- of International reputation and renown. It oi tension circles. A native of Ohio, he received " Land Management), Western Manager offers some curious sidelights on "Hopples' Aerotopograph Corporation, and Presidency his B.S.. M.S.. and Ph.D. from Ohio State working methods. An account of this ap- of the American Society of Photogrammetry. University, and Joined the Indiana Extension Service as a livestock-marketing specialist in peared In the July American Journal of Currently he Is in England attending the to the office of Pharmacy under the title "F. Gowland Hop- British Commonwealth Survey Officers' Con- 1931. He came Federal Ex- senior kins, Glutathione, and I." A few reprints ference, by special invitation. tension in April 1936. as a economist. are available for the curious who cannot see serving as livestock, grain, and wool-market- the periodical In the Library. Address the Operation "Aftosa" ing specialist until July 1942. when he be- Editor of USDA, Office of Information, USDA. came wartime Chief of the Economic Sec- The former secretary of Soil Conservation Washington 25, D. C. tions, the position he left September 1946 Service's foreign liaison representative, now to enter PMA. l Japan again a secretary and Interpreter with the Mexican- American Commission for the Eradication of Dr. Roy Slmonson of USDA Soil Survey has Foot-and-Mouth Disease, Ernestine Martinez, been In the Pacific on assignment with the recently write her former boss a colorful and Geological Survey. He was struck with the animated letter about the campaign. She September 29, 1947 Vol. VI, No. 20 fact that farm life was more nearly normal examined It at close range during a 4-day and less touched by war than anything else in field trip. She commented on the tremen- Japan, that some Japanese soil profiles were dous Job there of educating the people to rid USDA Is published fortnightly for distri- Indistinguishable from those of Iowa, that themselves of their Infected or exposed ani- bution to employees only, by direction of the alluvial 6o11s provide Japan's food, and mals to eradicate the disease, and of the fact the Secretary of Agriculture and with the that too few terraces were used In preventing that many of the campaigners actually work approval of the Director of the Budget, as soil erosion. Okinawa he found far, far worse at the risk of life. She saw a beautiful herd containing administrative Information re- off than Tokyo: even part of the land had of 270 registered Holstclns doomed for the quired for proper transaction of the public been damaged. This Island has an area of slaughter, awaiting their execution all un- business. 480 square miles, a population near half a aware. She observed the need for soil con- Address correspondence to Editor of USDA, million, and only a fifth of the island Is suit- servation and the crudity of much Mexican Office of Information, U. S. Department of able for cultivation by the hand methods agriculture. She found the villages enchant- Agriculture, Washington 25. D. C. Wash- used. Its soils resemble those of Southern ing and the villagers she encountered hos- ington or field employees, please write U.S. Its food-production problem Is acute. pitable nnd friendly. Instead of phoning.

V. S COVCRNHCNT PRIKTINS OFFICCi H4T * :

SHARE THIS COPY tists in the Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quarantine have discovered by ac- cident that unmated queens, when sub- n jected to carbon dioxide gas anesthesia, { lay eggs which later hatch into drone i 'Si bees. This makes possible a rapid pro- * — i .Y-j—L-S-issi duction of hybrid strains in which the parentage is absolutely controlled, and , i.^.r:...... _. hybrid honeybees are thought to be as important to apiarists as hybrid corn to 5" 3 -_*5l 1 --- corn growers. The carbon dioxide treatment and de- FOR OCTOBER 13, 1947 4 velopment of the standard apparatus and equipment required for artificial fertili- ^^^AA^A^^AAA^AAAA^^AA^^^rt^^^^^A< AA^WWVA^WWA^^^i^>A^^^^ ^ zation of bees have been worked out by EPQ entomologists. By artificial insemi- Clearinghouse Sixty days in Japan nation individual drones selected by the breeder can be used for mating; the car- A GROWING function of USDA is to act THE TIME, in May and June, was too bon dioxide treatment makes possible ar- as a clearinghouse for information of short to be certain of anything. But I tificial insemination of an unmated queen interest to employees. More and more did get many rather definite impressions even with her own son, if desired. Bee its editor sees the need for interchange about current conditions among the farm strains high in honey production, espe- of information between offices, labora- people. I spent from two to four days in cially good for pollinating fruits and tories, divisions, bureaus, and agencies. nine rural villages in various parts of the other crops, or adapted to particular Readers like tips to interesting informa- islands. Accompanying me were three climates should result. Major credit tion, regardless of origin. When the of Japan's leading rural sociologists. goes to Dr. Otto Mackensen, stationed at head of an agency makes a speech full I was especially impressed with four the Louisiana Agricultural Experiment of factual information or having broad things: 1. The smallness of the farms; Station, who discovered that the gas policy implications, hundreds in other 2. the excellent care most of the farmers would stimulate egg-laying by unmated

agencies manifest interest. When one take of their land ; 3. the general absence queens, and Dr. W. C. Roberts, stationed of our scientists or the head of one of of farm machinery, and 4. the strong tra- at the Wisconsin Station, who refined the our laboratories makes an address which dition the Japanese farmers have of apparatus for artificial bee breeding. gives a not too highly technical review working together. The average-size of activities in their special field, em- farm is 2.5 acres. The main crop is rice. Farm economists meet ployees generally are interested. Practically all of the cultivatable land We ask you again to communicate has long been used intensively and skill- AT THE September 8-11 meeting of the with the editor of USDA whenever you fully, giving to much of the farming American Farm Economic Association, know about or have informative mate- areas the appearance of well-kept Green Lake, Wis., the following papers rial available in processed or printed gardens. were presented by Bureau of Agricultural form that would be calculated to interest Most of the work is done by hand Economics representatives other employees in other agencies. It though some few small machines are The Role of Sampling in Farm Manage- ment Research, by Charles F. Sarle; Methods may relate to administrative or per- used rather widely. Only one-third of of Financing Related to Asset Characteristics sonnel matters, to facts in the fields of the farmers have a horse or a cow with of Farms, by Donald C. Horton; Economic Evaluation of Soil and Water Conservation, the natural social sciences, to which to farm. Except for trains and a or the Measures and Programs, by Mark M. Regan methods of addressing audiences, or of few trucks, transportation facilities are and Everett C. Weitzell; Some Statistical limited largely Problems Involved in Types of Farm In- putting our ideas into to to carts and bicycles. shape be trans- come, by Size, by Nathan M. Koffsky; Col- Group life among the rural people is mitted by print, radio, movies, or ex- laboration Between Marketing Economists, highly organized. Most families live in Engineers, and Other Specialists, by Raymond hibits. Do not confine such interesting W. Hoecker; The Objectives hamlets that carry on a great variety of and Methods of and valuable material to small groups Agricultural Economics, by Bushrod W. formal and informal cooperative activity, Allin. only. Let the Department know about it. particularly the swapping of farm work A session of the conference was de- Then make suggestions to the editor and the rotation of providing food and voted to BAE's 25th anniversary with as to how you think the house organ can drink for the numerous local celebrations speeches by Chief O. V. Wells, and for- better perform this clearing-house func- and festivals. mer BAE Chiefs Lloyd S. Tenny and tion. Give him tips. We can all learn (Communicated by Arthur P. Raper, Social Prof. John D. Black of Harvard. Tenny many things from one another, things Science Analyst, Bureau of Agricultural spoke on The Early Years, Black on The Economics.) which both improve ourselves and make Years in Between, and Wells on The us better public servants. Write and tell Horizon. BAE's first Chief, Henry C. us what you would like to see more of in gsiificant discovery Taylor, presided. USDA. Send material which you feel SOME YEARS ago a method was found would interest others. Our recent notice of using artificial insemination on bees. Out of stock of a popular statistical brochure had a Until then it had been practically impos- Sometimes items mentioned in USDA are tremendous response. Orders for the sible to maintain pure lines of honeybees, out of stock by the time you write for them. Often our stock is Abridged Chronology of Agriculture's small in the first place. because queens would mate with any Often USDA seems to reach you almost in- Part in the War so far exceeded the drone. Artificial insemination provided credibly late. We do our best to see that all written orders for such material are filled and supply that it is now being rerun. complete breeding control. Now scien- try to let you hear from us anyway. 762356° —47 returns from their stored beans if mar- veloping an idea for a modification In the sterilization equipment for fruit which 75 years ago keted on the false assumption of oil loss speeded up the entire process and saved from during storage. 1 to 2 hours on each room of fruit \ 2 sterilized. IN 1872, Frederick Watts, who had as- J'hn A. Rheb, The laboratory has also worked out a for assuming, in the absence sumed office as Commissioner of Agricul- of his superior, full direction of the Japa- method for the precise determination of nese beetle field work In his area and for ture when an old man, reported very drying components in oils and oilseeds currying out the program with conspicuous briefly on the activities of the Depart- success without assistance from headquar- which should lead to a more accurate ters. James B. Gahan, ment to President Grant. The Depart- for outstanding re- evaluation of the quality of soybean search work directed at the control of ma- ment's appropriation had been $197,070, laria and other mosquito-borne diseases paint oils. Moreover, the laboratory's of which all but $1,278.82 had been ex- through the use of DDT-resldual -spray studies have assisted in improving soy- treatments of entire villages. Loyd W. pended, but the Commissioner was sure bean-oil paint formulations for outdoor Bhannon, for demonstrating unusual initia- that this remainder would cover all out- tive in carrying out a dual assigtroornt of use. A paste has been developed which making a series of special surveys on vege- standing bills and leave a small sum to contains pigments and driers so mixed table insect pests and their control and for return to the Treasury. continuing a regular research program: in that farmers can readily and economi- one outstanding instance an accurate analy- It was in this year that James M. cally prepare a paint from them merely sis and prompt report of an infestation of Swank, Chief Clerk of the Department, Mexican bean beetle made It possible to have by adding soybean oil; this product is a position established by the organic act needed Insecticides available to save a loss now on the market. Objectionable fea- of thousands of dollars on a green beaa crop. creating it, published his brochure on Production tures of the oil for paint use are over- and Marketing Administration: The Department of Agriculture, its His- Roy R. Madden, for developing and estab- come. lishing a procedure for ascertaining pro- tory and Objects. At that time J. R. A new use developed for soybean pro- gram costs within PMA and effecting its in- Dodge was the Department's statistician, tegration with the budgetary and financial tein is in the manufacture of an adhesive operations achieve improved fiscal William Saunders was superintendent of so as to for shotgun-shell casings. Norelac, the procedures. gardens, Townend Glover was entomolo- Farmers Home Administration: Jesse C. synthetic resin developed at this labora- gist, Ryland T. Brown was chemist, Smith, for devising a ledger sheet, which tory as a heat-sealing agent, and made made FHA account-keeping easier, promoted George Vasey was botanist, J. R. Russell accuracy, and saved hours for county person- from a modification of soybean oil, went was the librarian, and the superintendent nel, thereby creating confidence and good- into full-scale production this July. The will among PHA borrowers. William E. N. of seeds was Andrew Glass. That con- laboratory has worked out effective Garrett, for devising a method for handling stituted the top personnel. a pay-roll history file which resulted In a 50- of fermenting methods soybeans by a percent reduction in the size of the file Itself The Department then had divisions of combination of molds, yeasts, and bac- and also a saving in sorting and tabulating statistics and publications; seed, horti- time. teria so as to produce a high-quality soya culture, and propagation; chemistry; Soil Conservation Service: Ralph L. Dol- sauce, the processing of which has tra- vtn, for exhibiting outstanding ability in the botany; entomology; correspondence, ditionally been a semisecret household organization and direction of SCS work in his records, and accounts; and distribution area, as reflected by the exceptional number art in China. A process has also been of farm plans and soil-conservation practices of documents; also a library and an developed for so fractionating soybean established. agricultural museum. It employed some oil that each fraction is superior to whole fifty clerks and specialists and about oil for special purposes—one making a fifty messengers, laborers, and others. Operational research superior paint oil, the other an edible Qualified people could not be procured There was much discussion of operational product suitable for high-quality short- research at the meeting of the British Asso- to edit the compile and Department's enings. For details contact the Labora- ciation for the Advancement of Science in reports, at the prevailing salary rate of Dundee this summer. Operational research tory at Peoria, 111. Is a term coined by physicist Sir Robert $1,200 to $1,800 a year. Watson-Watt, who Invented the radar The Commissioner had ruled that the method of detecting hostile planes, and refers chemical laboratory must hereafter de- Superior accomplishment to the analysis of Jobs, equipment., peo- ple, attitudes, working conditions and ma- vote itself wholly to agricultural mat- terials, which it measures with icy objec- inquiries only the ters. He said that superior experience rewards tivity. Its embrace not obvious, but trifles usually ignored. Dif- and technical skill were too rarely recog- PAY INCREASES as a reward for supe- ferent types of scientific and technical spe- nized in Government employment, hence cialists work in teams. The integration of rior accomplishment have been awarded knowledge resulting from pooling the con- a dead level of mediocrity prevailed. He groups, even the min- recently to the following employees: tributions of such on had earlier expressed regret that the pe- utest details, produces Information which Entomology and Plant Quarantine: aided the war effort enormously cuniary provision for publications was Ran- not only dall Latta, for outstanding work in develop- but. at peace, can greatly accelerate Indus- meager. The Division of Microscopy ing equipment for the production of ther- trial and agricultural progress. Older scien- was created in Watts' term, Scottish- mally generated aerosol insecticides and tists, like Sir Henry Dale, oppose because methods of eliminating lice from military they say this method restricts the traditional born Thomas Taylor being in charge. clothin" and equipment. Mildred W. Syft.ig, frepdom of research; the defenders reply, lor rendering service which was outstanding, "We believe In freedom, but it must be an both as to quantity and quality, in connec- informed and responsible freedom. We want tion with the preparation of budget estimates no Isolationism." Scientists tend more and Soybean report and supporting material and for developing more to talk like people! a system of records for various bureau THE SCIENTISTS at Northern Regional projects. Harry H. Stace. for administering Our information service supervising a program of research di- Research Laboratory made a progress re- and rected at the development of practical means The Public Opinion Quarterly for Sum- port recently through Director G. E. Hu- of protecting military personnel against in- mer 1947 contains an article which tells how and why the USDA Information services were bert, who addressed the American Soy- sects and, in addition, for performing indi- vidual research assignments. Horace S. started, the factors that facilitated their bean Association at Columbus, Ohio. Dean, for administering and supervising an growth, and gives a general picture of the For one thing they have demonstrated unusually complex program necessary to Department's information activities. The guard against insects which are brought in editor of USDA has 30 or 40 reprints. Ad- that, contrary to belief, the oil common with cargoes and baggage of passengers dress him as Indicated bottom last column content of soybeans does not diminish traveling by air, and for cooperative arrange- pg. 4, If you want one for reference purposes; shortcuts in permit if you merely want to glance over the article during storage prior to processing. This ments which provided procedures and a saving of approximately this quarterly Is obtainable from the L.brary. finding protects farmers subject to lower $15,000 annually. Harold S. Hensley, for de- It Is published at Princeton, N. J.

USDA: October 13, 1947 Other research projects New set of color charts Brief but important A project to develop a plant-disease fore- Dr. E. R. Draheim, of the Division of Train- casting service, one to enable growers to reap ing, Office of Personnel, has completed a set Changes in FS greater benefits from farm woodlots, one to of color charts, excellent for showing at small develop strains of dairy cattle especially meetings of USDA employees of any kind, Theodore W. Norcross, Chief of Forest Serv- adapted to the South, and another to im- entitled "Guide to Broader Understanding ice's Engineering Division since 1920, retires prove production per cow for small dairy- and Better Public Service for USDA Em- at the end of this year. A native of Medford, men, have been announced as assigned ployees." Barney has outdone himself on Mass., he graduated from Tufts in civil engi- under the Research and Marketing Act of this job. Believe it or not the charts ef- neering, worked for several years in Geolog- 1946. Write Press Service, USDA, for Nos. fectively present not only the history of ical Survey, and entered PS as regional engi- 2081, 2096, and 2101 to get details. USDA but the functions and responsibilities neer with headquarters at Denver, but trans- of each constituent agency, with a lot of ferred to Washington as Assistant Chief En- incidental material destined to make better 7 Research achievement gineer in 19.13, to become Chief Engineer public servants out of all who see them. alone years later. For road and trail work he Research Achievement Sheet No. 83 (E) Contact Dr. Draheim for details. $470,000,- directed the expenditure of about recounts how scientists in the Bureau of En- 000 of Federal and cooperating agency money tomology and Plant Quarantine developed Corn country construction maintenance of 76,- in the and residual -type DDT sprays for control (and 114,000 of trail. Is This book by Homer Croy, in 000 miles of road and He near-annihilation) of houseflies. The sheet the American technical publications. He Folkways series, from Duell, Sloan, Pearce, author of many gives a brief narrative of the research project, & will be succeeded by Anthony P. Dsan, since Inc., New York City, is bound to interest you plus all reference data. These sheets can 1939 Assistant Regional Forester with head- because it would be impossible for even be procured through E. G. Moore, Agricul- Croy quarters at San Francisco, a native of Berkley, to write about the rules governing use tural Research Administration, USDA. the Mass., who studied at M. I. T. and entered FS of the dative without being interesting. as a CCC camp superintendent 1933-35. He The book is highly informal, discursive, and has been Supervisor of Shasta, Los Padres, New farmhouse plans anecdotal. It consists largely of a number Cleveland forests. Mr. Dean will be suc- of magazine articles, and Six new farmhouse plans designed for mod- arranged chronologi- James J. Byrne, who was Chief cally, and interspersed all ceeded by ern rural living by USDA agricultural engi- with sorts of cu- of the USDA Guayule Emergency Rubber rious information extending neers, architects, and economists, have from prominent transferred home I Project at Salinas, Calif., and to folk who were born in the been released. State Extension Services and Corn Belt, through Pacific Northwest Experiment Station farming there, and to the land-grant college agricultural engineering the founding of the Oreg., in 1946. A native of 4-H Clubs and in Portland. departments cooperated. For further Infor- how Home on the Range Mr. Byrne is a graduate of Montana happened to be written. Idaho, mation see press release No. 2107, by writing But it all some- College who took his mastei-s at M. I. T. how relates to the State Press Service, USDA, or write to the Division Corn Country and you'll began work with FS at Missoula in 1932. find it intriguing, informative, and He of Farm Buildings and Rural Housing, USDA, enter- taining. The library has copy. Beltsville, Md. a Judge Reed retires First Judge Harry D. Reed has retired as General Harry L. Brown Counsel of the Farm Credit Administration The first farm-ownership insured mortgage Mr. Brown, who was General Agent for in Columbia, S. C, after 18 years of service, financed by private banks under the amended Farm Credit Administration in Columbia, which began as General Counsel of the Fed- Bankhead-Jones Farm Tenant Act was closed S. C, and who served as Assistant Secre- on October 3, at Americus, Ga. Congressman eral Land Bank and the Federal Intermediate tary of Agriculture from January 2, 1937, Stephen Pace of Georgia, sponsor of the in- Credit Bank there. A native of Utah, he until December 5, 1939, has left FCA to be- sured mortgage provisions of the Farm Ten- George Washington studied at Mercer and come vice chancellor of Georgia's university ant Act, and Dillard B. Lasseter, Administra- the United universities, and became a clerk in system. He has served as General Agent since tor of Farmers Home Administration, at- States Bureau of Fisheries in 1898. He has April 1941. He is a native of Georgia and a tended the ceremony in connection with this since been Mayor of Waycross, Ga., where he graduate of its State university. He began event. grew up and, in 1925, became Judge of the his career as county agent for Fulton County, Waycross Circuit of the Superior Court of Ga., and later was State Director of the Unique Extension Service. For some months Georgia; declining reelection he went into Georgia he served as assistant director of TVA's De- A Rural Electrification Administration loan the practice of law. As an authority on the partment of Agricultural Relations. has been allocated for the construction of subject he helped frame the FCA legislation. a distribution system on two islands in the Lawn ants-crabgrass Chesapeake Bay—one in Virginia and one in Importance of libraries Maryland—connected by an overwater tie line. The generating plant is to be installed Herman H. Henkle, new head of the John Dr. Theodore W. Kerr Jr., of the Rhode Island Agricultural Experiment Station, an- on Tangier Island in Virginia. Inhabitants Crerar Library in Chicago, says that true nounced recently that pestiferous lawn ants of Smith, the other island, have never had libraries are not mere collections of books, can be eliminated entirely with 50-percent power. This allocation is unique in that it but must mobilize the information these wettable chlordane, a material originally de- represents the first time such a construction contain for useful purposes before they have veloped to compete with DDT, using 8 ounces has been made on two islands in different performed their function. He believes there to 2,500 gallons of water per thousand square States. More kerosene lamps are to be is tremendous duplication in research be- feet of turf. About the same time Dr. Jesse dimmed for good. As the islanders get their cause the knowledge already acquired has D. DeFrance, of the same station, said that living from the water, directly or indirectly, allocation is not been made fully available. He cites the common lawn octopus, crabgrass, could be the also unique in that no farm- ing operations are connected with it. fact that DDT was first made and described eradicated by applying a spray of 1 part of in a German scientific paper before 1900, phenyl mercuric acetate per 4,000 parts of water, 10 gallons of which will treat a thou- while Gregor Mendel's discoveries about gen- Pamphlets on hospitals sand square feet. Write the scientists at etics were fifty years lost because they ap- The Hospital Survey and Construction Act Kingston, R. I., for details. peared in an obscure journal. He holds that is a summary of the law and regulations. Why Need More Hospitals gives the story !.j libraries must mobilize knowledge to for- We living ward science progress and prevent perform- Notes on modern of hospital needs in this country. The Hos- pital Act and Your Community tells in simple ance of expensive research to rediscover what are getting electric service in In- Farmers terms what the programs means to States is already known but hidden away from sight. creasing numbers and they are using elec- and communities. What is a Hospital Sys- tricity in greater quanties. June 1947 was tem? describes a coordinated hospi'al system, School lunch funds the highest month when more than 33,000 intended to extend the scope of hospital care. connections were made to REA-financed sys- Sample copies of these pamphlets are avail- Initial allocations of National School highest average tems. The prewar monthly able free on request to the U. S. Public Health Lunch Program funds have been announced was 23,000 connections a month, attained Service, Washington 25, D. C. involving apportionment of $48,750,000 of in 1940. The upward trend in power con- the $65,000,000 appropriated by Congress sumption on rural lines continues. The av- for Supreme sacrifice this purpose for use in the participating erage per consumer on REA co-op systems in States, District of Columbia, Hawaii, Puerto fiscal 1947 was 123 kilowatt hours per month. A team of Mexican personnel, composed of Rico, the Virgin Islands, and Alaska. The In 1946 the average monthly consumption five soldiers and two technicians, engaged in was 114 kilowatt hours. In the early days the foot-and-mouth campaign in Mexico, program resembles last year's except funds of REA, consumption ran about half these was waylaid by an angry crowd and killed. for the purchase of School Lunch equipment amounts. Despite progress, about 2,500,000 There were no Americans present. This un- are lacking. It is estimated that 7 of the farms and at least as many nonrural estab- fortunate incident caused suspension of op- estimated 27y2 million American children in lishments such as crossroads stores, schools, erations in that immediate area but it was elementary and high schools will benefit this and residences were still waiting for electric- hoped they could be resumed in the near year. ity at the start of 1947. future.

. USDA: October 13, 1947 3 Two new appointments Office rules Handling inquiries Dr. Wm. C. Ockey, a native of Utah, Is the According to a recent survey by the Na- Secretary's Memorandum No. 1201, Septem- new Director of Marketing Research Branch tional Office Management Association, as- ber 4, available from Secretary's Records Sec- of PMA, to Include development and co- sisted by the Prudential Insurance Company, tion, Plant and Operations, deals with re- ordination of marketing research* work in covering 836 companies, office rules tend to- sponsibility for handling public and Con- PMA with that under the Research and Mar- wards liberalization. Nearly half the com- gressional inquiries and incorporates into keting Act. He served with the old War panies permit unrestricted smoking by men; our written rules the long unwritten policy Food Administration and the War Produc- only 18 companies ban smoking by both of the Department. When some member of tion Board. H. C. Albln is newly named sexes. By a ratio of 11 to 9 the companies the public asks an employee for information Associate Chief of the Food Distributions Pro- favor rest periods; 228 companies allow two beyond the area of his responsibility he is gram, having served with USDA in several rest periods, and 117 allow more than 15 obligated himself to put the inquirer in touch capacities for some time. minutes. However, rest periods constitute with the right person without delay, check- - one of the most controversial subjects in lng by phone to be sure. Employees should Seen in magazines today's office world. Three out of four com- go out of their way to do this, remembering panies permit the taking of snacks, or be- that people outside are familiar with "Mad Dogs Are Killers" Is the title of not tween-meal refreshments, usually from dis- an article on rabies by Alfred Sinks in Sep- USDA's organization and therefore, when tember Coronet. Mr. Sinks got much of his pensing machines. unaided, find answers to their queries with material from the Bureau of Animal Indus- difficulty. Congressional calls should like- try. The public-school system of Ascension To make it rain wise be handled with dispatch and referred Parish, Louisiana, had a fine write-up in only to the place or person having the an- Would-be experimenters must follow origi- the Ladies' Home Journal for September. swer. For more detail study the memoran- nator Vincent J. Schaefer's instructions to TJSDA officials come In for their share of dum. the last detail. When cloud" are sown with credit In helping to make Ascension Parish solid carbon dioxide, snow first results, then schools "set a goal for the Nation." The Melbourne's farm rain, but clouds must be "stU>ercooled" to lead article in the September Country Gen- cooperative 1. e., tnfeir moisture tleman was by Secretary Anderson, entitled become — Melbourne, Australia, owns a farm which must be below freezing but still liquid and "Soil Murder on the Plains," wherein he — it uses for disposal of Its sewage. It contains the supercooled portion of the (cloud must says that the plow-up in some areas there 25.000 acres (14,000 of them irrigated) and be at least 500 feet thick. do d 2 miles for wheat follows closely in the pattern A is devoted to livestock; some of its pastures thick can produce only 0.14 inch of rain. which produced the Dust Bowl disaster. He are 45 years old and have never been re- The pellets sown should be the sizaUsf a pea infers that the "rape" of the prairies is dan- worked "or reseeded. There are 17,000 fine and the humidity below the cloud must also gerous. But he sees a brighter side in re- healthy beef cattle and 7.000 sheep grazing be just right. seeding, dam building, and livestock. , on them. The farm fronts on the sea for 13 miles and on a main highway for 10 miles, New foreign outlets What is a dia'ysate? has 120 miles of roads. 1,100 watering troughs, 800 miles of fence, and 500 year- Action has been approved under the Re- As this is written British scientists %le round workmen. It carries 14 sheep to the search and Marketing Act of 1946 to assign carrying on a genteel, soft-spoken, summe - acre. There are on the farm 88 houses, 4 commodity specialists to work in this coun- time argument as to whether the word "dialy- schools, a recreation hall, a church, a swim- try and abroad toward stimulation of foreign sate" should be used to designate the portion ming pool, football and cricket grounds, and demand for certain products grown here such of a mixture that remains after dialysis or its vtennis courts. It grows own fence posts . as fruit, tree nuts, tobacco, cotton, rice, and the portion that penetrates the membrane. and has its own big shops. It lacks snails other farm items likely to be produced in Nearly all biochemists understand the word and flukes and represents conservation and excess of domestic needs. For details ask to refer to the latter, the more diffusible part production from waste at high efficiency. Press Service by mail (please do not phone) of the system. Then what should that be called which is retained by the dialysis mem- for No. 2029 dated September 8. Rural Electrification News brane? (N. b. It is not customarily as hot Research projects approved in England as here, so perhai s this problem Again we recommend this periodical ($1 a will not arouse your interest.) year from Superintendent of Documents) — Administrator Meyer of the Research and now the August-September issue, especially Marketing Act of 1946 is now announcing Losses from animal disease for Its articles on Electricity and Rural projects approved ' for study thereunder. Two Health. Making Light Work for You, Get the assigned to the Bureau of Animal Industry G. LaPage discussed this subject in Nature Right Kind of Light, What Types of Lamps concern the combining of inbred lines of (London) for August 16, drawing on Ameri- and Fixtures, Lighting the Farm, and Fluores- chickens to produce superior hybrids with can sources, and quoting our Bureau of Ani- cent or Incandescent. See it yourself for improved growth rate, carcass quality, fe- mal Industry as saying that the total United useful information well presented. cundity, and viability, and the development States losses of animals attributable to para- of meat-processing methods such as will pre- sites alone are $290,000,000 annually, or 69 Fire Prevention Week vent deterioration In quality and nutritive percent of all our animal losses, while acute value during processing, storage, and dis- fatal diseases—mostly hog cholera—make up Nation-wide Fire Prevention Week was Oc- tribution. third, assigned to Bureau of A only 15 percent of the total. However, the tober 5-11. We hope you celebrated, but not Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural En- United States has eliminated or nearly by building a bonfire. Since 10,000 Ameri- gineering, deals with improved methods of eliminated many diseases which trouble cans (3.500 of them farm folk) were burned refrigerating fruits and vegetables from field other lands, such as bovine tuberculosis, to death last year and $562,000,000 worth of to consumer. A fourth, assigned to the Bu- • rinderpest, foot-and-mouth disease, bovine property ($85,000,000 of it on farms) was de- reau of Human Nutrition and Home Econom- piroplasmosis, and contagious pleuropneu- stroyed by fire in 1946, the President espe- ics, is a study of the requirements and kinds monia, and "these are great achievments" of cially called our attention to these hazards, of foods consumed by different groups of our enormous economic value, 'not to mention which are so largely (90 percent) produced population. For details get No3. 2048, 2052, the resultant relief of animal suffering. by carelessness. If we Keep on at the present 2057. and 2068. respectively, by xoriting (not rate we shall be burning up a billion dollars' phoning, please) Press Service, USDA. There insects worth of property annually, by 1953, and that— • will be other announcements. Ask Press Banishing is a mark not to shoot at/i^e thought we'd Service about them when you write. If the fly has left the kitchen the song of come along after the big week and recom- the mosquito has become rare music on the mend that you carry the fire-prevention pro- To Warsaw front porch, and all that we owe to the forced gram out over the entire year, and then for Dr. Earl H. Bell, once a social scientist In drive of wartime research to protect our the next ten years for that matter. the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, left armed forces from the ills produced by biting for Warsaw, Poland, September 12 to serve Insects. The new synthetic repellents— di- with the United Nations as head of the mis- methyl phthalate, Indalone, Rutgers 612, and 1947 Vol. VI, 20 sion for children's rehabilitation programs. dimethyl carbate, used separately or in com- October 13, No. Dr. Bell has been engaged in BAE's research binations—have come to reinforce good old Is published fortnightly for distri- work in farm population and rural welfare cltronella. These four horsemen for riding USDA employees only, by direction of since 1939. H was a regional leader at down mosquitos and certain other biting in- bution to Secretary of Agriculture and with the Amarillo and Albuquerque for 3 years and. In sects do not irritate most persons, are safe, the the Director of the late 1946, spent 5 months In Poland as agri- effective, and nearly odorless. However, be- approval of Budget, as administrative Information re- cultural adviser for UNRRA. The rest of the ing organic solvents, they should not be containing proper transaction of the time he was in the Washington office. After used on synthetic textiles like rayon, on plas- quired for public he received his Ph. D. from Wisconsin Uni- tic watch crystals, on fingernail polish, or business. versity In 1931. Dr. Bell was professor of cul- on other objects made of or covered with Address correspondence to Editor of USDA, tural anthropology at the University of Ne- plastics. For details consult the Division of Office of Information, U. S. Department ««j^ braska for 8 years. Dr. Bell was most recently Insects Affecting Man and Animals, Bureau Agriculture. Washington 25, D. C. Washing- Rural Electrification Administration's Train- of Entomology and Plant Quarantine, ARA, ton or field employees, please write instead ing Officer. USDA. of phoning.

0. 5. GOVtRHKCNT MINTING OFflCE: l»47 V9] —

these minute bullets, and isotopes were / SHARE THIS COPY manufactured as a byproduct of the atom-bomb process. " 84 & n The prices of these isotopes will range from $1.10 to $50 a unit, as compared with a million dollars each, in some cases, before the war, and when avail- 1 _^-__Q*-^ able at all—for most of them could not then have been made at any price. Iso- topes can be diluted almost unbelievably and it is still possible to trace them by the use of suitable detectors. The sulfur isotope can be diluted with stable com- 4 -x-.w: mon ordinary sulfur in a ratio of one- ^— "SET trillionth to one, and still be traced by its radioactivity. The isotope of carbon v with atomic weight 14 (ordinary carbon Food Conservation\^ /Isotopes weighs only 12 on this atomic scale) can be mixed in dilution of 1 to 10,000,000 SPEAKING at Chicago, October tf, the WE HAD BETTER polish up on isotopes, parts of the ordinary carbon and it can the desperate food sit- as the USDA is bound to become a chan- , Secretary stressed still be traced. uation in Europe, caused by flood and nel of information on their use in agri- It is carbon isotope 14 freezing damage to crops last winter, fol- culture, now that the Atomic Energy which promises lowed by drought last summer. He con- Commission is supplying them for re- to solve the great basic agricultural mys- tery, that of photosynthesis, . tinued : "The task therefore is bigger in search. For the Oak Ridge Plant makes the process \ Europe and more difficult here. That is possible a sufficient quantity of isotopes by means of which plants synthesize their why we have to have food conservation in to fill all reasonable needs. Batches food and store solar energy. Isotopic every home and grain conservation on millions of times greater than could be phosphorus 32 is likewise important to ' of the every farm. produced before the advent atomic agriculture since it can be traced when the (the pile) can be "The savings that can be made in energy furnace now used for plant fertilization, in order to by avoiding all waste and saving made. home tell just what the plant does with it. foods made from grain or produced with A typical atom is made up of a heavy Isotopes will also be very useful in medi- grain are important. But the biggest sav- and proportionately enormous center cal and nutrition studies for, when in- ing of grain must be made on the farm called a nucleus, around which one or troduced into animal bodies, their migra- because we normally feed nearly three- more infinitely smaller packages of ener- tions can be recorded accurately by their fourths of our total grain output to live- gy called electrons rotate in orbits, some- energy emissions. stock. This year we have a smaller feed thing like the planets do around our sun. grain output and a larger wheat crop. Electrons are really negative electrical If such an isotope is made to form a Consequently, there is a tendency to make charges, yet they are the very core of part of sugar, for instance, the sugar up for the feed grain deficit with greater what we know as matter. The simplest can be traced throughout the compli- use of wheat for livestock feeding. That atom, hydrogen, has only one electron, cated action by which food energy is must not happen and therefore, we have whereas uranium has 92. The simplest converted into muscular work. Natu- to have successful meatless, poultryless, nucleus contains only a positive electri- rally the nutrition of cattle and of crops

and eggless days. And by succesful, I cal charge called a proton and another can be studied far more intensively and mean actual reduction in demand if we are particle with no electrical charge called intelligently with this new tool in the to take the pressure off of livestock prod- a neutron. But a more complex element, farm research worker's arsenal. like iron has 26 Protons and 28 neutrons ucts and remove encouragement to feed - (As good and also as popular an accurate in its nucleus. book as you can get on this subject is Atomic grain heavily to livestock. The consumer When atoms are bombarded with high- Energy in Cosmic and Human Life by George campaign has to succeed if the farm cam- Gamow; procure from library or bookseller. speed neutrons an occasional nucleus It may puzzle you a bit, but remember that - paign is to succeed, and the farm cam- of one of them absorbs a neutron. An less forbidding books are usually inaccurate paign has to succeed if we are to make and this one is blest with brevity too.) ' ' "isotope" of the original element, wheth- substantial savings in grain. er carbon Phosphorus, or ' iodine, is thus . ; "The job of supplying food exports may formed The substance remains exactly Blue lupine be big for a long time to come. It will - Research Achievement Sheet 82 (P), avail- the same chemically and biologically, but • - stay big until much greater progress is able from Agricultural Research Adminis- its welght is

IN USDA for September 1 and 15 we ad- W. I. LADEJINSKY, Office of Foreign Ag- NO MATTER what a cow is to poets, to vertised a document entitled "An ricultural Relations, who was assigned to dairymen it is a four-legged factory for Abridged Chronology of Agriculture's the General Headquarters of the Supreme converting grass and grain into milk and Part in the War." It originated in our Commander for the Allied Powers, has butterfat. Moreover, dairymen are in war work out of a reference list of ac- participated in analyzing Japan's farm constant search of means to improve the tions taken by, or changes in the struc- ills and prescribing some remedies. Soil efficiency of their milk machines, and re- ture of, the Department of Agriculture, tilling has been an onerous and unprofit- search scientists try to help them. Scien- put down in the order of their happening. able activity for Japanese farmers in the tists have found that cows can be May 1940 until October 1945. If the De- past because of intense pressure of a large hopped-up Into high production by partment was implicated, the list shows farm population (47 percent of the total) being fed thyrolactin, iodinated casein, what happened and when it happened, upon a small arable area, plus difficult thyrocasein, iodinated protein, or thyro- not everything, but the most important land tenure conditions. protein—they are all the same thing, a things. Finally, Dr. Gladys L. Baker Agriculture is Japan's principal eco- substance formed by the chemical action of the Bureau of Agricultural Economics nomic activity. Because of an inequi- of iodine on casein. cleared and corrected the list, and we of- table tenure system, 28 percent of the This synthetic chemical is not ex- fered it to all who might want to file the farmers owned no land and had to rent, tremely expensive and. when fed to dairy document for reference. and 40 percent owned so little that they cows, it has the same effect as injec- The only trouble was that we had in- rented some to supplement their own tions of thyroxine, the active principle sufficient copies and the stencil got tossed holdings. Tenure was precarious, rents extracted from thyroid tissue. It boosts away by pure accident. Actually the doc- were high. The Japanese Government the milkflow and the butterfat produc- ument used to be No. 3 in the USDA se- recognized this condition, and realized tion and, unless the feed is increased, the ries, it never seemed exceedingly popular, that tenants usually could not profit suf- cow will literally start turning herself and we had decided to discontinue it. ficiently to supply their exceedingly into lacteal fluid. Under treatment the But we had far more requests for it for frugal needs, but its efforts to better the cow's heart beats faster, she lives faster, ultimate file purposes than we had copies situation were unenthusiastic and un- she eats more, and she may give 40 per- to deliver. Now, through the kindness of successful. cent more milk, though 20 percent is a typists who simply added the job gra- Abolition of all tenancy was neither likelier average, and she also puts more ciously to their regular work, the stencil feasible nor desirable. But Ladejinsky butterfat into her milk than before. has been recut and we have rerun the and other experts recommended a policy Maybe by living faster she will die document in sufficient quantity to supply that would enable tenants to become younger; it is too early to tell yet. But requests, if you'll please write in again. owners, and which would also revise and maybe a short life at high production Let even the little secretary who re- improve farm-tenancy practices. Pur- would be more profitable—at least to the quested the "Abridged Chronology of Ag- chase of considerable land from land- dairyman. Obviously the treatment riculture's Spartan Award" write in lords for resale to tenants was recom- would complicate herd testing; we can again. (Life is rugged here at times, but mended on terms which would not be only hope it would not impart an ha- there is no Spartan Award.) burdensome, but designed to strengthen look the serene, benign bovine To get this finally corrected document, the purchasers' new enterprises. Sug- rassed to Abridged Chronology of Agriculture's gested improved tenancy practices in- countenance to which we are accus- Part in the War, for file and reference clude written long-term agreements with tomed. Our dairy research workers are purposes write, please do not phone, T. fair cash rentals, compensation for im- now experimenting with the method to Swann Harding, Office of Information, provements in cases of lease termination, see whether it does in the long run as USDA, Washington 25, D. C. and reasonable credit facilities. well as it seems to do in short runs.

Agriculture's assets are now worth over Last year farmers received more than Farm data twice as many dollars as in 1940; their 24.5 billion dollars from the sale of farm AT THE START of 1947 there were 27,- value at the start of 1947 had reached products—197 percent above the 1940 550,000 people on our farms, 2,360.000 $111,209,000,000. Their dollar value in- average. This all-high record was the more than in January 1945, when our creased 13 percent in 1946 alone. Nearly largest in a consistently increasing series in yet to end. farm population hit its wartime low, but half the rise since 1940 is accounted for which began 1939 and has 2,719,000 fewer than in 1940. About by higher farm real estate values which In 1945 the net per capita income of farm 1,250,000 more men returned to farms have risen 74 percent during the past 7 people was $743 as compared with $1,259 from the armed forces during the past years. Agriculture's financial assets to- for nonfarmers. By the latest figures, 52 percent of rural and 96 percent of 2 years than had left farms during the taled $22,077,000,000 on January 1, 1947, other homes in the United States have same period to go to war. There were and farmers' other physical assets 31 electricity; the respective percentages also 773,000 more births than deaths billion dollars, an increase since 1940 of are 27 and 62 for electric refrigerators. among farm people since 1945, the 1946 34.3 percent for the former and 101 per- 46 and 93 for electric irons, 28 and 95 farm birth rate being its highest since cent for the latter. Farm debt increased for running water. Rural people are 1929. Also more people moved to farms 160 million dollars in 1946, reversing a still less well off than city people in areas during the last 2 20-year downward trend and farmers' from nonfarm educational facilities, health services, years than moved from farms to town. nonreal-estate debt also rose. But for- habitability of dwellings, and many other By January 1947, about three out of four mer equities showed a big net increase, factors constituting high living stand- men who had left farms to go to war had the debt increase having been far less ards. (See September Agricultural Situ- returned there to live. than the increase in assets. ation.)

USDA: October 27, 1947 Editors Termite control Marketing-Research Will find material of interest in a long Soll-polsoning as an auxiliary measure to editorial entitled "Fashions in Medical Writ- primary termite-control methods of a struc- projects ing," which appeared in the New England tural nature is the subject of Press Release Journal of Medicine for September 4, 1947. 2334, available from Press Service, USDA; write, please do not phone. concise possible FOLLOWING is the most Locusts in Argentina Research program policy of research projects recently ap- list Is new processed publication from There a The following summarizes program policies Research and Market- of Entomology and Plant Quaran- proved under the Bureau under the Research and Marketing Act of tine, by John R. Parker, entitled "Comments ing Act of 1946, showing type of research, 1946 and is by Administrator E. A. Meyer: and Suggestions on Locust Control in Argen- "We believe that projects should represent agencies that are to perform it, and num- tina." is based on an original published It new lines of activity within the various in Spanish by the Argentinean Ministry of ber of Press Release giving details. Pro- fields of work, or activities where substantial Agriculture. The author made a study of the writing, not expansion is clearly needed. We believe that cure the releases you want by locust problem at the request of the Gov- the research 6hould be practical that It Argentina. — phoning, Press Service, USDA. ernment of should deal with problems which producers and industry face now or will face in the Virus diseases of cherries, Bureaus of En- New Assistant Administrator, ARA tomology and Plant Quarantine and Plant immediate future. We want our work to Agricultural Engineering, Dr. Omer W. Herrmann, a native of Osceola, yield results which can be immediately put . Industry, Soils, and a graduate of the University of to profitable use. We intend to concentrate No. 2117; economic studies, Bureau of Agri- Nebr., and Agriculture, became As- our efforts so as to do an effective job in cultural Economics, No. 2119; wind erosion Nebraska College of a limited number of fields rather than scat- snd underground irrigation water, Soil Con- sistant Administrator, Agricultural Research September 15. His job is to ter them over a multiplicity of different servation Service, No. 2121; preventing insect Administration, assist Administrator in the coordination problems. Finally, we want to make the first damage to farm products used in building, the re- order of business the finding of new and ex- "PQ with Forest Products and Southern Re- of research on utilization and marketing f search of USDA and the State experiment panded markets for those crops which now, • onal Research Laboratory plus outside stations, under the Research and Marketing or In the immediate future, threaten to be r ^operation, No. 2144; preserving quality and Act of 1946. Dr. Herrmann did graduate work in surplus. We feel that the Department's P ncreasing acceptability of fresh fruits and emphasis can best be placed on marketing No. 2145; livestock-poultry at University of Wisconsin in agricultural i vegetables, PISAE, utilization research, leaving major re- marketing-transportation studies, Farm economics and marketing, and was awarded and his Ph. D. there in 1928, whereupon he taught sponsibility for production research to the Credit Administration, No. 2161; domestic marketing, and research at Oklahoma A & States." .wool improvement, Production and Market- M for years. In 1931 he the Federal ing Administration, No. 2162; four livestock 3 Joined Board, one of the predecessors of the Readability again projects, PMA, No. 2168; certified seed mar- Farm 'keting improvement, PMA and PISAE with Farm Credit Administration. He entered the Wallaces' Farmer and Iowa Homestead has outside cooperation, No. 2174; improving pea- Army in 1942, and was Chief of the food and made another readability test on its own agriculture section of Gen. Eisenhower's r.ut quality, PISAE, No. 2177; efficient equip- articles, using the Rudolph Flesch index. staff March 1944-September 1945. next ment for mechanizing southern cotton pro- He See Donald R. Murphy's lead article on How Assistant Director, Director, duction, PISAE and State experiment sta- became then Plain Talk Increases Readership 45% to 66%; Fats and Oils Branch, Production and Mar- tions, No. 2183; bringing production of vari- in Printers' Ink, September 19. keting Administration, and United States ous types of cotton into line with textile- industry requirements, PMA, No. 2189; more Member of the International Emergency Food New Research Achievement Sheets Council's Fats and Oils Committee. efficient use of skim milk and whey. Bureau No. 80 (C) tells how the quality of tur- of Dairy Industry, No. 2192; improved meth- pentine and rosin was improved by new ods of freezing and refrigerating milk and Raymond J. Jessen methods developed by USDA scientists, re- cream, BDI, No. 2193; reduction of young pig The new Acting Director of the Statistical search valued at 18 million dollars which It losses. Bureau of Animal Industry, No. 2207; Laboratory at Iowa State, the College's newly cost only $182,000 to perform. No. 81 (C) better sheep-parasite control, BAI, No. 2494; formed department of statistics, and of the tells how our scientists improved the process consumer preference and marketing data, Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station's for making synthetic rubber, the research PMA, No. 2209; more effective means of weed newly formed statistical section, is staff- costing $40,000 and being worth 10 million control, PISAE, No. 2221. member Jessen, one of the Bureau of Agri- dollars a year. Procure these sheets from cultural Economics group which designed the Agricultural Research Administration, the Master Sample. He succeeds recently USDA, Washington 25, D. C. Brief but important retired Prof. Geo. F. Snedecor. A graduate of the University of California, Jessen took New science mags Length-of-Service Award his doctor's degree at Iowa State. He has The 102-year-old Scientific American has been outstanding in the work of the Statis- been purchased by The Sciences Inc., which Secretary's Memorandum 1186, February tical Laboratory since he Joined Its staff in plans to remodel it substantially. The .11, provides for Length-of-Service, as well as 1938, has been statistical expert on several American Institute of Physics will soon start for Distinguished Service and Superior Serv- governmental foreign missions, and has to publish a new science periodical. Both ice Awards to employees. Ten or more years designed numerous sampling surveys. magazines will seek to attract the large of service with USDA is thus recognized. The groups of potential readers who know that • Length-of-Service Award consists of a min- science is too abstract and abstruse to be iature shield and certificate with an enamel Behavior of isotopes delivered in sugar-coated pills—the gasping- panel of green for 10 years of service, white An atom is held together by tremendous asthmatic style of scientific writing. The for 20, red for 30, blue for 40, and gold for 50. energy. But If its nucleus can be smashed first magazine will be written by Journalists Persons intermittently employed for a total or splintered, using millions of electron-volts, trying to think like scientists, the latter of 10 or more years are eligible; service in that energy can be released. However, cer- by scientists trying to write like journalists. an agency prior to its incorporation in USDA tain atoms are rather overpacked with en- The editors of both will seek to avoid the and time on military furlough from a USDA ergy and release it spontaneously; such are esoteric technicality of the pure science jour- "si^ency also count. radium and plutonium. Synthetic isotopes nal and the patronizing air of writing down also have extra energy packed into them to readers with limp wit and small talk. Snails which they release spontaneously. Their We shall see what we shall see. Connoisseurs, epicures, and gourmets in "shelf-life" is measured by the time It takes United States and elsewhere support a lively them to lose half of this radioactivity. It Research-marketing takes carbon 14 some 5,100 years to do this, snail export business in Morocco. The natives Advisory Committee hence it can readily be stored, but radioactive A Foreign Trade has collect the snails around the countryside and appointed recommendations iodine has a "half-life" of only 8, radio- been to make on sell to buyers who cover large areas with poor and active phosphorus of only 14.3 days, so new foreign-trade aspects of commodity projects "transportation, and who take great risks. under the Marketing and Research Act of Quality of the snails varies widely accordingly stocks must be made constantly. Isotopes 1946; it will also advise the Department, the to conditions and time of collec- have to be shipped in shields to protect han- ; weather dlers their radiations. National Advisory Committee, and the vari- tion, but the natives get pay for their "catch" from Lightweight shipments can be made of radioactive phos- ous commodity committees. If Interested in before delivery. Sometimes a sirocco de- the new committee's membership write Press stroys many snails after delivery. The way phorus, sulfur, and calcium isotopes, because they emit only "soft" rays, Service, USDA, and ask for No. 2215. of the middleman is hard, but the snails often beta but mate- bring $10 a pound in New York. rials like radioactive iodine, which emit pow- erful gamma rays, require lead shields weigh- Survey • ing 50-100 pounds, while .cobalt emits such If Interested, write for a copy of Radio COOPERATE FULLY WITH THE FOOD powerful gamma rays that even a small quan- Listening Analysis; address Extension Direc- tity requires a shipping shield weighing 1,600 tor P. E. Miller, University Farm, St. Paul,

CONSERVATION PROGRAM pounds I Minn.

USDA: October 27, 1947 —

Citrus fruit import ban Did you know The grapevine Additional species of citrus fruits that That or rinsing washing rice before and The Informal out-of-hour Farm Credit might introduce dread citrus canker disease after cooking is unnecessary and also de- Club's "Grapevine" Is a shining example of were prohibited entry into the S. effective stroys U. much of Its nutritive value? That how good and morale-building such small, October 25. For details procure release No. medium-grey or buff paint lasts considerably processed house organs can be. The Septem- write Press Service. longer 2148: USDA, Washington than white, while the most durable ber 24 ljssue humorously depict* FCA's wan- 25, D. C. paints are dark, like red barn paint? That derings, via a clever drawing. More seri- the average American farmhouse Is over 50 ously It reports the sudden and lamented Morse Salisbury years old? That soap not properly rinsed out death of William Kenneth Watt, an FCA em- former of clothes makes a brownish stain resem- ployee since 1933, ' This Director of Information for who Joined the Washington , bling USDA. for TJNRRA. and for the International iron rust when the clothes are ironed? office as a loan analyst a year later, and who Emergency Pood Council, is now Director of (To remove such a stain wash over again was Assistant Director of the Surplus Prop- with soap and then rinse thoroughly.) erty Disposal Section Information for the Atomic Energy Com- when he died. He v.;. 4 mission. well known and thought of throuahout the" W Harry Harlan farm credit system. Carl A. Gustafson The late Harry V. Harlan, the only man in history who devoted his entire European affairs This Is the new Assistant Chief for fire working life to the study of barley, completed his control, Forest Service. He is a native of The editor's State Department cousin re- / book, One Man's Life With Barley, Just Minnesota who graduated from the Univer- cently drove 960 miles through 5 countries before he died. It will be published as a sity of Idaho in 1927, and later won a schol- from Copenhagen to Paris. He wrote: "There special Issue of Chronica Botanica arship and took his master's degree at Uni- (Waltham was no rain In western Europe for more than 51, Mass.) It has a foreword versity of California In 1929. He worked by his long- 9 weeks and everything was entirely burned time coworker, Mary Martini, also recently as a forest ranger in Wasatch National For- up. Fields for the whole distance down t deceased. Dr. Harlan entered est, Idaho, in 1927, and returned to it in the USDA at Paris were left Just as they were in earlv the invitation of Mark Carleton 1930. He was staff assistant In fire control and was Spring and nothing—absolutely nothing- assigned to barley; he headed the barley with the California region, and later Super- grew more than a couple of inches. What i. group in the Division visor of Klamath National Forest In Cali- of Cereal Crops and the world these nations are going to do thi' Diseases. will fornia, and became Supervisor of Plumas You find some material about winter is beyond my guess. When the wlnte National Forest In the same State In June him in The Land. Summer 1947. Vol. VL No. wheat crop was sown, fall 1946. there was a

197-204. ' 1945. from which assignment he comes to 2, pp. little rain and then a quick freeze. On top Washington. of this came the worst winter In 45 years and Science in farming hence no grain crops this spring. 1947." The Rutin This, the current Yearbook of Agriculture, worst drought in 90 years followed. These

drew heaps of favorable from all people must be fed or else and "the 'or else' : The International Medical Digest for Au- comment over, but Editor Stefferud's favorite was merely that people who are hungry can very gust contains an excellent documented re- a joint congratulatory letter sent the Secre- easily swing over to other ideas of Govern- view on "Rutin In Capillary Fragility^' in its tary by the Atlantic County (N. J.) Board ment." Symposium Section, beginning pg. 119. of Agriculture, to compliment USDA for producing the Cold Storage Committee Hail to the Library! book and saying: "It is un- fortunate that not every farmer in the county A Cold Storage Advisory Committee has Chronica Botanica. Vol. 11, No. 1, issued H can have a copy. It would serve as a refer- been named under the Research and Market- Summer 1947, bears the following introduc- ence and would help to build the esteem of ing Act of 1946. For details and membership tory notation: "This the eleventh volume of all farmers for their Department of Agricul- get No. 2227 from Press Service, USDA; write, Chronica Botanica is dedicated to the Di- ture. Please accept our sincere compliments please do not phone. rector and Staff of the Library of the United for a very fine Job." States Department of Agriculture, In recog- Progress nition of the many services rendered by this Tanning materials progress report on the first inspired group, and particularly In appre- An item based on work by Jerome G. Rog- A research pro- ciation of their ject approved under the Research and Mar- establishment of that most ers, Bureau of Agricultural and Industrial keting Act of 1946, the Emergency useful and timesaving tool, the Bibliography Chemistry, on alternative sources of tanning Corn- Drying Project, be of Agriculture." Take a bow. Library staff, materials as the American chestnut vanishes may found In Press Re- lease No. 2222; write to Press while we cheer. in Umbo had wide circulation and was ob- Service, USDA, for it. served in Western Livestock Journal, Breed- Hitch-hiking phones ers Gazette, The Stockman, Hide, Leather Foot-and-mouth The first specific local contract for hitch- and Shoes, and possibly turned up elsewhere hiking telephones undsr the basic agreement "unbeknownst." In USDA for September 29 we mentioned between Rural Electrification Administration the appointment of H. Nelson Elliot to survey' and American Telephone and Telegraph was Foot-and-mouth virus the foot-and-mouth- quarantined areas in recently approved. It's between the San A group of prominent international re- Mexico for evidences of spread among wild- - Bernard Electric Cooperative of Bellvllle. search scientists, including Dr. I. A. Gallo- life. The problem of susceptible wild am- Tex., and the Southwestern Bell Telephone way, of the Virus Research Institute- in Eng- mals has been found les6 grave than was. Company. The contract provides that the land, Dr. H. W. Schoenlng of Bureau of anticipated. For details write Press 8ervic< telephone company will rent some of the Animal Industry, and Drs. Fernando USDA, and request No. 2219. co-op poles for a dollar a year each and pay Camargo, Alfredo Tellez Giron, and Jose the cost of attaching its equipment to the Figueroa of Mexico, recently made a trip Extension Service Review power lines. As a result, a substantial num- through the foot-and-mouth-dlsease-in- This Illustrated monthly Issued by Exten- . ber of farms In three Texas counties west fected areas of Mexico, after 4 days of discus- slon Service has considerably perked up in of Houston, members of the co-op, will be sion and consultation. Drs. Schoening and recent Issues; always Informative it is now able to talk over the power lines with almost Galloway also attended an International becoming saturated with reader appeal. - , any other telephone In the world. conference on standardization of foot-and- vaccines in Bern. Switzerland, mouth-disease I This is No. 22 . Directory of Personnel in late September. The Virus Research In- By mistake we put No. 20 on the October The Office of Personnel has issued a di- stitute is carrying on research study of virus 13 Issue of USDA; it should have been No. 21; rectory arranged by subject matter and list- sent from Mexico, the work being under Dr. this Is No. 22. ing persons responsible for particular phases Galloway's direction. Further intensive re- of Its operations. Copies of this have been search is planned in several countries. sent to your personnel officers. Consult the Secretary directory and find the right person before Former Hyde October 27, 1947 Vol. VI, No. 22 taking matters up with Personnel. Wash- Arthur M. Hyde of Trenton, Mo., died Oc- ' ington employees, phone Ext. 5965 when In tober 17 In New York City. He was Sec- USDA is published fortnightly for dlstrl- doubt. retary of Agriculture from March 5, 1929 button to employees only, by direction of until March 4, 1933, following William M. the Secretary of Agriculture and with th6 UNESCO and YOU Jardine and preceding Henry A. Wallace. approval of the Director of the Budget, as administrative Information This Is a State Department pamphlet containing re- containing questions and answers on the Commodity Exchange Authority quired for proper transaction of the public how. what, and why of your share In the If Interested In the history and accom- business. United Nations Educational. Scientific, and plishments of this USDA regulatory agency Address correspondence to Editor of USDA,- Cultural Organization, with a Foreword by read Twenty-Five Years of Future Trading Office of Information, U. S. Department of Milton S. Elsenhower. If you want a copy Under Federal Act by Its Administrator, J. Agriculture, Washington 25, D. C. Washing- 1 write T. Swann Harding, Office of Informa- M. Mehl. Write, please do not phone, Press ton or field employees, please write instead tion. USDA, Washington 25. D. O. Service. USDA, and ask for No. 2125. of phoning-

4 ». i. lomunT r«iirri»e officii i»47 — SHARE THIS COPI ™TW*1%1^ DEPARTMENT SCIENTISTS find a number of common faults in dairy barns, after study of representative barns in various States, in the effort to arrive at the best combinations of building de- i ^Ji_. r $_ sign, arrangements, sanitation, equip- ment, and operator 2 _„ __^_____ technique. Very few barns, for instance, are arranged for 3 __^_„„ easiest feeding. All so far studied are F(JR N Q YEMBER 1Q lg47 faulty in one or more of such features as: Location of silo and ground-feed bins; location, size, and number of hay and straw chutes; equipment for meas- uring and delivering feed from storage to REA Today How to be chairman animals. Most 2-story barns have hay or straw AS MORE and more farmers get elec- MANY OF US are called upon in line of chutes over the feed alleys, but seldom trie power, the greater is the insistence official duty to be chairman at meetings. enough, for 1 is needed per 8 stanchions > of those still unserved that they, too, be What are the rules of good chairman- in face-out-type barns and 1 for every given the opportunity to modernize their ship? Walter Weir recently listed 15 10 or 12 in the face-in type, if the feed farms. This is indicated by the large things every chairman should know, in alley is wide enough. volume of applications for electrification an article in Printers' Ink. Drawing Milking time is "~ shorter in the loans being received by the Rural Elec- freely upon him, and somewhat upon our face-out type, but the feeding trification Administration. own experience with meetings which time can be so much shortened The REA recently estimated that ap- lapsed into quasl-chaos because the in the face-in type, by using better ar- proximately 400,000 farms, the great- chairman was incompetent, we'll risk rangements, that this defect can be j, more est number in any 1 year, received telling you how to be a chairman, than compensated. Practically all stalls central station electric service from Never start a meeting without a list are too short, and many are too narrow either REA co-ops are power companies of things there to be considered. Call for the convenience and comfort of the during the 12 months prior to June 30. this an agenda, if it makes you feel bet- cows. Despite this rapid progress, however, the ter; provide copies for those attending Small, inexpensive equipment devised rural electric cooperatives, faced with or read it when starting the meeting by plain ingenuity can save much time demands of unserved farmers in their and keep the thing on the beam. It's and work in many dairy barns. In one, areas, have been applying for new loans curious how many attend meetings with- for instance, two pails used in cleaning at a faster rate than REA has been able out knowing why they are there; they cows and equipment were fastened to- to make allocations. The backlog of ap- often sit through an hour or so of the gether and carried by short, plications reached nearly $300,000,000 by wrong conference without realizing they a rigid han- dle. This eliminated the end of the fiscal year, nearly one- should be somewhere else. Keep the one extra trip each milking. third higher than at the beginning of meeting moving, speak clearly, and pre- That saved the operator 15 miles of travel the year, and since July 1, new appli- vent the development of general hubbub, a year. cations have been coming in at the rate Stem aimless discussion by waving a com- of about a million dollars a day. The mittee at the miscreants and control the Government workers REA loan authorization for the year meeting at all times without stifling free The Bureau of the Census announced amounts to $225,000,000. discussion. In the middle of October that the Federal pay REA recently made its annual estimate Keep speakers talking clearly and roU had dropped by 1.4 millions to 2.2 mil- lions from 3.6 millions since the end - (required by law) of the number of un- audibly, and sum up what each has said, of the war, but the number of State and local Gov- electrified farms in the Don't argue with the speaker remem- country and — ernment employees had risen from 3.1 to x 3.7 millions between found that there still are more than 2 /4 ber you're supposed to be neutral. Query the end of the war and April 1947. Over-all Government employees million farms without electric service, him if you wish or, if you have a com- now number 5.9 millions (down 800,000 since ' Farms without service are located ment, take the floor as a participant, the war ended) with an annual pay roll of 1.1 billion dollars. Two out of every throughout the Nation, with 9 States - three Don t squelch troublemakers; try to public jobholders now work for State and each having more than 100,000 farms un- local show them up for what they are and let Government; in 1940, State and local employees outnumbered Federal served. Ten others have more . 3 to 1; the than 50,- the participants squelch them; tnere s ratio fell to 2 to 1 during the war. 000 unelectrified farms each. „ - .. „ .. ., . „ ,„._ „ • . more of them than there is of you. Be ™ r , , ^ How dairy farmers The . . 1947 estimate of unelectrified . , .. , : . can save grain considerate f the Participants' corn- farms also indicated the rapid progress ° Dairy farmers with an abundant supply i™**-*™ 1 blow smoke a the un of good-quality hay and other roughage made in recent years. The 400,000 con- * ™ ™ can cut feed bills materially by they g0 to sleep or refuse to Provide using less grain nections during the year brought the ' for growing dairy heifers than has been cus- r er ventilation. tomary. total of electrified farms to 3,575,000, P °P Above all, never Recent research by the Bureau of Dairy Industry indicates that dairy heifers which is 61 percent of all farms, as yourself address individuals instead of com- get along well without grain from 10 to 12 pared with only 10.9 percent of all in tne group. Check at the meeting's end months of age until shortly before they are due to freshen provided they 1935, when REA was created. The to be sure participants feel that each sub- — have been fed and raised properly from birth, and get all largest gains were made in areas where Ject has been covered adequately. the good-quality hay or other roughage they want at all times. For details . the number of unserved farms was These instructions should enable you on this write (please do not phone) Press Service, USDA, greatest. not to become Chairman of the Bored. and ask for No. 2356. 765479°—47 To be understood Versatile gas RMA projects

THE SATURDAY Review of Literature THE ANCIENT Chinese ripened hard AGAIN WE list below the projects under continued its campaign for better writ- pears by putting them in a closed room the Research and Marketing Act of 1946 ing in its October 4 issue. The article with burning incense. But, says USDA that have been approved since our last was entitled "'How To Write Like a So- plant physiologist Erston V. Miller, they issue. The nature of the project, the cial Scientist" and was by Samuel T. didn't know that ethylene gas in the in- agencies undertaking it, and the press Williamson. It deserves the attention cense smoke caused the ripening, or that release numbers giving details are given of all information workers, editors, thousands of years later the same prin- in each case. Get press releases by mail WTiters, and would-be writers. It stems ciple would be used the world over in from Press Service, USDA. from the young college graduates who many agricultural industries. Better farming methods for erosion con- simply cannot write plain English and Early in the present century, when trol and food and feed production on char- acteristically steep lands In Puerto Rico; Soil then deviates into the cases of those who Florida oranges were shipped north in Conservation Service, Bureau of Plant In- say "substantial" instead of "big" or railroad cars heated with kerosene stoves dustry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering. P. R. Agricultural Experiment Station at "large," and "to a substantially high to prevent freezing, it was noted that Rio Piedras, and Federal Experiment Station degree" when they mean "much." green-colored oranges became orange- at Mayaguez; 2255. Salvage of damaged Other horrible examples the author colored in transit. Research by the timber to Increase its utilization: PISAE. Forest Service, Bureau of Entomology and USDA finally disclosed that the color has picked out of social science papers Plant Quarantine, and certain State forestry by crack specialists—"pedantic Choc- change was caused by ethylene in the departments: 2262. Developing the use of agricultural products as Insecticides: EPQ; taw," he calls it—follow: "Available evi- fumes from the stoves. This finding led 2266. Reducing food costs by developing and to the present commercial practice of dence would tend to indicate that it is promoting construction of more efficient unreasonable to suppose" instead of degreening citrus fruits by "gassing," and marketing facilities; Production and Mar- keting Administration; 2268. Developing in- "probably"; the fact of rapid deteriora- to the use of the gas instead of stoves to formation on plant food needs of soils and ripen bananas shipped mature but tion of musical skill when not in use when effecting better returns from fertilizers; soon converts the employed into the un- green. PISAE and State experiment stations: 2279. Nematode control; PISAE and State experi- instead of "musicians out The citrus and banana industries of employable," ment stations; 2281. To discover and develop this country were the first to use ethylene of practice cannot hold jobs"; and new and Improved uses—medicinal among fruit. "nearly all operations in the industry for coloring and ripening Wide them—for apiary products; EPQ and Inter- ested medical Institutions; 2282. Develop- lend themselves to performance by ma- use of ethylene followed in very recent ment of U. S. Standards for grading proc- years. gas helps ripen col- chine, and all grades of men's clothing The now and essed fruits and vegetables for which none sold in significant quantity involve a or many kinds of fruit; blanch celery, now exist; PMA with cooperation of other Feoeral, certain State, and outside units; of endive, and chicory; loosen walnut hulls very substantial amount machine 2285. Price and consumption study of to- force work," instead of "much men's clothing for rapid husking; cure tobacco; bacco; PMA and other interested agencies In flower bulbs; root plant cuttings; speed USDA; 2286. Improvement of sampling is machine-made." up yeast fermentation; germinate seeds; methods In collecting basic farm data; Sta- But it is impossible to give you an tistical Laboratory, Iowa State College; 2287. adequate idea of the article here. Get defoliate rose bushes for storage; and Enhancing and Improving the flavor of soy- plants bean oU, Northern Regional Research Lab- the magazine from the library, a book- force the flowering of pineapple oratory with State and private agencies; to produce out-of-season fruit. store, or from 25 West Forty-fifth, New 2302. Two gum naval stores projects; Bu- The discovery that fruits give off York City. While you are at it, don't reau of Agricultural and Industrial Chem- istry; 2303. Economic effects of farm mech- significant article in the same ethylene as they ripen has cleared up miss the anization; Bureau of Agricultural Economics; many agricultural mysteries. Apple issue on poor scientific writing in the 2313. To Improve the quality of peanut scald, which caused such severe losses in press, entitled "Newspapers and the products and find new and wider uses for them; Southern Regional Research Labora- Fel- storage, was found to come from the Bomb," prepared by Nine Nieman tory and other public and private agencies; gas emitted by the fruit, and oiled wraps lows who are doing a forthcoming Mac- 2314. Merchandizing methods of co-ops; or shredded oiled paper, which absorb Credit millan book called "Your Newspaper." Farm Administration; 2315. Extend- the gas, were proved effective in control- ing the use of foreign plants In U. S. crop Finally, look up in back issues of the improvement; PISAE; 2316. Determining the ling scald. Florists have learned not to Saturday Review of Literature the ar- harmful effects of insecticides on animals ship or store either plants or cut flow- and plants; EPQ, Bureau of Animal Indus- ticles, "Writers: Enemies of Social Sci- try, PISAE, AIC, Food and Drug Adminis- ers along with apples or other fruits, ence," by Lyman Bryson, in the October tration, and State experiment stations; 2317. because the ethylene exuded by the Better methods of malting barley; PISAE, 13. 1945, issue, and "The Pudderers," by PMA, State experiment stations, fruit makes leaves and blooms drop or and trade Ivor Brown, in the issue for December 7, groups; 2347. New methods of measuring wilt. However, rose bushes keep better tobacco quality for specific uses; PISAE, PMA, 1946. You'll be the better for this in storage if the leaves are removed, and State experiment stations, etc.; 2352. Im- reading. provement of market news services; PMA treatment with ethylene has proved an and BAE: 2354. Better maintenance of sugar easy way to remove them. (From Food content and quality of harvested sugar beets and sugarcane in storage; PISAE, State ex- and Home Notes, Helen C. Douglass, Industrial use of ag products periment stations, and private sugar con- Cumann Ceimicldhe na hElreann (the Press Service, USDA.) cerns; 2355. Basic studies to find new uses Irish Chemical Association, to you) and the for cotton; Southern Regional Research Lab- Dublin Section of the Royal Institute of oratory, PISAE. PMA; 2367. Chemistry recently held a colloquium on The Industrial Utilization of Agricultural Prod- Vegetable breeding ucts and Seaweed. Those Interested will Vegetables Designed to Your Taste Is an Ag-ec world meet find an abstract of the proceedings in Na- article In Science Digest for November (pub- ture (London) for September 13. Cane sugar, lished from Chicago) that Is largely con- The International Conference of Agricul- lactose, the carbohydrates generally, Irish cerned with the research work of our South- tural Economists will meet In the summer of fruits, casein, rayon from seaweed (very In- eastern Regional Vegetable Breeding Lab- 1949, probably In Czechoslovakia or Hungary, teresting) , waxy starches, agar, seaweed mu- oratory at Charleston, S. C, and of the a less-than-full-scale meeting having been cilages, and the amino acids, all came up for United States Soil, Plant, and Nutrition Lab- held this summer at Dartlngton Hall, Totnes. discussion. oratory, at Ith;;ca. N. Y. England.

USDA: November 10, 1947 Food conservation Radio history Japanese budget work It is assumed that all employees are Charles B. Herndon (Radio Service) tells the Japa- keeping up with the national food con- us that USDA's use of radio began at 5 p. m., s. and fiscal work in BUDGET December servation campaign by radio and the press. 15, 1920, with market news by radio nese Ministry of Agriculture and Fores- telegraph broadcast from Bureau of Stand- The farm grain-saving campaign was an- >~try has a great deal of the form but little ards Station WWX and picked up by "hams" fact sheet, on nounced, along with a all over to post in post offices, county agent's of the substance of related activity in October 3. If you want to see this original officers, etc. This service was initiated by lTSDA. This is the observation of Ken- announcement procure No. 2272 from Press W. A. Wheeler, then in charge of market in- neth A. Butler, of the Office of Budget Service, USDA, by maiL formation for our Bureau of Markets. Later the Navy helped by letting us use its power- and Finance, who was in Japan for 2 Save hog feed ful Station NNA. By June 1921, market re- ports were going to 31 States radio j months on detail to General Headquar- On October 13 the Secretary urged all live- and mar- producers shippers, commission ket news service was well launched. The ' ters to assist the Ministry of Agriculture stock and firms, dealers, stockyard companies, auction present Radio Service began in a small way . and Forestry on their budget and fiscal markets, and packers to conserve corn and in Office of Information, February 15, 1926, problems. grain generally by eliminating wasteful after its incorporation therein first of the methods of feeding hogs destined for im- year and, by October 1926, a regular syndi- Basically, their greatest difficulty is a mediate slaughter. This can be done with- cated series of radio scripts covering a wide lack of trained and experienced employ- out adversely affecting meat quality or vi- variety of farm and home information was started to some 90 stations. Sam Plckard ees to enable them to progress beyond olating humane principles. Excessive feed- ing to produce temporary weight increases was USDA Radio's first chief; Morse Salis- the elementary stage in budget work. In bury or fills is unjustifiable. It constitutes eco- foUowed him. the past there has been no necessity for nomic waste. George L Prichard careful and complete budget work, be- Rhubarb to the rescue This is the new Director of the Fats and ' cause the Diet was subservient to the Oils C. M. McCay reported in Farm Research for Branch, Production and Marketing Ad- ministration, succeeds r Emperor and voted appropriations as re- October 1 that injury to the teeth caused who Omer W. Herr- mann, recently by drinking lemon juice could be prevented appointed Assistant Admin- quested. Under the new constitution istrator, Agricultural Research by adding rhubarb juice in the proportions Administra- " that effective tion. Mr. Prichard has been in the Depart- became May 1, 1947, the of 1 cup to 4 of lemon. The oxalates in rhu- ment since 1931, first with AAA and more Diet assumed authority and respon- barb (spinach also contains them) tend to new recently with the Oilseed Branch of Com- counteract this bad effect of the acid in the sibility and has requested complete esti- modity Credit Corporation; he has been As- lemon juice. Certain cola drinks contain sistant Director of PMA's Fats and Oils mates and justifications for all requests phosphoric acid and are also very popular, Branch since August 1946. He is a na- soften for funds. The staff of General Head- though they can detached human tive of Warren County, N. O, and attended teeth after a 2-day soaking and damage the quarters is also interested in obtaining the Univereity of North Carolina. molar surfaces when fed to dogs, rats, mice, complete program plans from the various or monkeys. Farm Research is a quarterly Science and Public Policy publication of New York's two agricultural Ministries as reflected in requests for Volume 3 of this series is entitled "Ad- experiment stations. funds. ministration for Research." The reports are prepared by the President's Scientific Re- Officials in Mew activities director the Ministries of Agricul- search Board, of which John R. Steelman is Welfare Activities Committee, ture and Forestry and of Finance were The Joseph chairman. Great Britain also is giving seri- B. Ragan, chairman, has appointed Charles ous consideration to the problem of research amazed at the budgetary aids and pro- A. Cunningham—who for 4 years has been and the scientists in Government service. cedures that are available to all em- Chief of the Community Activities Branch, See editorial entitled "Government Research Office of the Secretary of War—as Director and Development in Great Britain" (p. 379) ployees engaged in budget and fiscal of Employee Activities, succeeding John G. and the item on "Conditions in the Govern- work in the USDA. They requested that Scherlacher, who resigned last June to join ment Scientific Service" (p. 392), Nature material Mr. Butler had brought with the faculty of University of Virginia. Mr. (London) September 20. Cunningham graduated from the Physical him be left with them, and that addi- j Education Course at University of Wisconsin Wheat and rye goals tional material be supplied through and took his Masters in Recreation at New State 1948 wheat goals totaling 75,095,000 General Headquarters. Many Govern- York University. acres and rye goals aggregating 2,458,000 acres were announced October 2. The for- ment administrators looking rubber were for- New mer figure is 4 million acres above the 1947

; ward to the time when they could send A new synthetic rubber has been developed goal, though nearly the same as indicated by our Eastern Regional Research Labora- plantings. The rye goal is about a half mil- some of their budget and fiscal employees tory and is being manufactured on pilot- lion acres more than that harvested in 1947. to the United States to study in our plant scale; if interested, procure No. 2348 Get release No. 2242 for details; write Press by writing (not phoning, please) Press Serv- Service, USDA. , schools, in the Bureau of the Budget, and ice, USDA. the USDA. USDA and farm safety Long-range farm policy M. L. Wilson, Director of Cooperative Ex- Brief but important Statements made by top USDA officials be- tension Work, USDA, delivered a meaty talk fore the House Committee on Agriculture entitled "Contributions to Farm Safety by ' Hog price supports and the Subcommittee of the Senate Com- USDA," before the Farm Safety Sessions, 35th mittee on Agriculture and Forestry in early National Safety Conference and Exposition, These, through March 1948, were an- October should have your attention. Chicago, October 7. Procure copies of the \ aouneed In Press Release No. 2245; write to They all outline Programs to Effectuate a Long- talk from his office to get details on this Press Service, USDA for it. Range Policy of Abundance. Assistant Sec- important subject. As others hear you retary Brannan addressed himself to Objec- tives and Potentials and also read Recent research achievements What impression do people get of you as Adminis- listen trator Wickard's (in his absence) statement they to you speaking over the tele- USDA's document No. 6, Important Re- ' on Rural Facilities, Services, and Industries. phone? Remember you have a telephone cent Achievements of Department of Agri- personality, just as you have a letter per- Administrator Lambert spoke on Technolog- culture Scientists, July 1, 1947, is in new sonality, and a variety of other personalities. ical and Economic Research; O. V. Wells cov- f copies. How often do you stand in judgment of ered Conservation and Land Use Adjust- supply if you want This 26-page Dthers on a basis of their telephone manners ments; Chairman Farrington of the Price report covers recent achievements in Agri- or habits? Telephone training self-taught Policy and Production Adjustment Commit- cultural Research Administration (except tee covered Price Policy Production tl is available for you in an outline which and Ad- some bureaus too shy to speak up), Soil I Charline Lynch, Division of Training, Office justment; and Secretary Anderson closed Conservation Service, Forest Service, and ' of Personnel, with Summary Remarks on Program and Ad- USDA, wrote for the September Bureau of Agricultural Economics. It - 15 issue of Personnel Administration (put ministration. You should study this mate- consists of short, popular items on a out by Pers.). She will send you a copy if rial carefully to acquaint yourself with basic you'll drop her a line. Please do that in- policy. The numbers of the releases are: variety of topics. To get copies write, ft stead of phoning in this instance, because 2256, 2257, 2258, 2259, 2260, and 2261. Pro- (please do not phone) T. Swann Harding, phone caUs build to awesome peaks and can cure them from Press Service, USDA, by mail Office of Information, USDA, Washington interrupt work no end. only. 25, D. a

USDA: November 10, 1947 3 Cows like wood molasses Stanley Andrews Pectin C. R. Lockard of the Southern Forest Ex- Mr. Andrews. Office of the Secretary, who Drs. Henry Welch, Harold L. Hirsh, and periment Station says that molasses made for 3 years has been working on various in- S. Ross Taggart of the Food and Drug Ad- from cull hardwoods shows promise as an ternational aspects of the food-supply pro- ministration and the Washington, D. C inexpensive supplementary feed for con- gram, has resigned to join the staff of the Health Department, have found that the ad- Arkansas Democrat in Little Rock. He has ministration of pectin slews down the rate, Jy tented cows. The Alexandria Branch of this 7 station has fed the molasses, made at Forest also been Assistant to the President of the at which penicillin, streptomycin, and other Products Laboratory from wood of mixed Commodity Credit Corporation and General drugs escape from the body, meaning fewer "shots" or doses required "by, dis- species of southern oak. The cows like it in Agent of Farm Credit Administration in New and less turbance of, the patient. their cottonseed cake—prefer it even to good Orleans. forage. The Mississippi Agricultural range Sugar Experiment Station is making tests of the Semantics molasses' food value. A plant handling 25 The USDA Graduate School, on request The University of California scientists who ^ cords of cull hardwood daily could produce from interested persons, is now offering a have synthesized sugar now announce that"^ about a tank car of molasses in that time. course in general semantics, a science of eval- they were wrong in regarding glucose phos- ^ Use of cull hardwoods for this purpose would uation and an explanation of and training phate as the basic substance of which all V enable owners to turn a profit and would in the application of scientific methods of complex sugars are constructed or that phos- give the southern livestock industry a badly thought to the solution of current problems. phate is essential to the process. They can now synthesize needed source of cheap carbohydrates. The basic text is A. Korzybskl's Science and complex sugars without using either glucose or Sanity; the instructor is Capt. J. A. Saunders phosphates.

Farms lacking juice (ret.) . For details consult Graduate School. The word is "psychroenergetic" Two and a quarter million United States Become acquainted with it. farms still lack electricity. Rural Electrifi- Bulb-stem nematode Be not intim- idated by its length. *1 cation Administration gives details, State by The bulb or stem nematode, long thought "Psychro" signifies re- latlng to cold, 1. e. the State, and a great deal of other information to be a single species attacking many dif- heat content of the air; and "energetic" is not only relative to its work in a fact-packed Press ferent field crops, ornamentals, and other what you are J nor when the humidity is high, *1 Release numbered 2239; write Press Service, crops, has been found by USDA nematologists but also the study of the conversion of feed into bodllv I USDA. and ask for it if interested. to be more than one species. For details heat procure release No. 2278 from Press Service, and energy. Fundamental research oi A the effect farm Penicillin in mastitis USDA, by mail. upon animals of heat, cold. | humidity, ventilation, and other conditions tj The article on Penicillin in the Treatment New market news offices is to take place at the Psychroenereetic Lab- ' Infectious Bovine Mastitis, by Dr. C. S. of oratory, Columbia, Mo., where USDA will Bryan of Michigan State College, in the A Dairy and Poultry Market News office J work with the Missouri Agricultural Expert- - 1 has been opened in Cleveland with L. C. American Journal of Public Health for Sep- ment Station. The laboratory will be under tember, may be of interest to some of our Giffen in charge. Giffen transferred from the Joint supervision of J. Robert McCalmont J Cincinnati where he is succeeded by C. C. personnel. and Harold J. Thompson of USDA and the " McClure. An office has also been opened at University of Missouri, respectively. A typi- work ciothes Madison. Wis., with C. D. Hadley In charge; Women's cal problem will be to find out why cows giv«- he transfers from Detroit and is replaced by The really outstanding achievement of less milk during winter cold snaps and how J. P. Kauffmann, formerly of New York City. clothing specialists of the Bureau of Human farm buildings can be modified to maintain i the milk flow Nutrition and Home Economics in perfecting Raphanin unimpaired. Read all about it. 34 designs for women's work clothing is the Get No. 2373 from Press Service, USDA, by subject of Research Achievement Sheet 79 This Is the name of the antibiotic Drs. mail. Ivanovlcs Stephan Horvath of (H) , available from Agricultural Research George and Administration, USDA. This investigation, the University of Szeged, Hungary, found in Varnish from the sugar bowl radish but the material as at present ' resulting as it did in an entire new line for seed, We mentioned this singularly durable coat- prepared has toxic side-effects. the commercial clothing industry, produced ing for wood or metal, made from a deriva- designs for dresses, aprons, coveralls, and tive of common table sugar. Research Achievement Sheets In USDA for I other garments that provide freedom in July 21. If Interested in more details get comfort, time-saving, safety, work activities, USDA somehow missed two of these sheets No. 2368 from Press Service. USDA, by mail. attractiveness, and convenience. Clothing issued by Agricultural Research Administra- specialist Clarice L. Scott prepared the ac- tion, USDA. when they came out last year. New cattle feed source count of this work for the sheet. For your belated information No. 69 (P) re- The possibility of providing a new source lates to work of our scientists in developing 4 of cattle feed by the recovery of waste pulp Meat inspectors chemical dips to prevent sapstain losses in j and protein from potato starch factories is green lumber and No. 70 (H) to the improved | "Did you know that you should examine outlined In release No. 2366. available by' processes for the home canning of low-acid the side of a mackerel, the backbone of a mail from Press Service, USDA. halibut, the eyes of a cod, to determine its foods developed by our home economists. degree of mortuary decomposition? Did Full details will be found in the sheets. As In October magazines you realize that the pressure due to forcing usual the work turned out to be worth tre- The following should be of high interest5' meat through a chopping machine too fast, mendously more than It cost in money. \ to workers: USDA More Hospitals . . . or the chopping of pieces that were too large, Mis- sissippi's Answer. Ladies' or the piling up of meat on a counter during Your Farm Lease Home Journal: Reach for an Apple. Seventeen; * trimming, could produce appreciable in- The Farmer This Miscellaneous Publication No. 627, was Goes To Town (a best bet don't creases in temperature, favorable to decom- — miss) For- issued by Extension Service and Bureau of tune; War Against the Insects, position? Would you have imagined that a by Lucia Agricultural Economics; it is in the form of Brown, formerly of Production tactful campaign of education could reduce and Market- a simple folder which provides all the ossen- ing Administration. This the average bacterial content of chopped Week Magazine, tials of a good farm lease. October 5. What's New in Home Economics meats in a city from 10.000.000 to 200,000 per comments that our new Yearbook "Is a gram?" Editor of American Journal of Pub- pub- Foreign economic policy lication with which home economists should lic Health (September) after he interviewed get acquainted." Finally Science Service • a Springfield, Mass.. State meat inspector. A State Department pamphlet on Problems Science, released October 5-11, had a of U. S. Foreign Economic Policy. Publication bang-up illustrated item on New Model Farm statistics 2750. Commercial Policy Series 104, Septem- Animals,* 3 FHA research. offers good material on this sub- dealing with USDA Farmers Home Administration has pro- ber 1947, ject. Procure from Division of Publications, vided a factual year-end summary of its ac- Office of Public Affairs, Department of State. tivities, including loans, collections, and out- 1 standing debts. Get it by mail from Press November 10, 1947 Vol. VI, No. 23 Service, USDA: ask for No. 2254. REA There is an admirable and highly lnforma- USDA is published fortnightly for distri- Health insurance, etc. tive piece in the Economist (London) for bution to employees only, by direction of J September 13, 1947, regarding Rural Elec- the Secretary of Agriculture and with the In Office of Personnel Memorandum No. trification Administration. It is entitled approval of the Director of the Budget, as i P-C51, dated September 22, Director T. Roy is written administrative Information lj Reid sought to clarify certain Issues that "Power on the High Plains" and containing re-' for proper transaction of the have arisen in connection with group health In the superb style so characteristic of Eng- quired public lish periodicals. Emphasis is on the "pros- business. and 1. ion insurance for USDA em- ' ployees. If interested, ask your personnel perity, happiness, and freedom from exhaust- Address correspondence to Editor of USDA^"

toll" produced for so many. of Information, U. S. Department of i officer to ! the memorandum. For ing REA has Office ay be designated to The Hlghllne Electrical Association, Holyoke, Agriculture. Washington 25. D. C. Washing- «i collect for such coverage, provided this does Colo., gets the spotlight. Library gets this ton or field employees, please write Instead t not interfere with their official work. periodical. of phoning.

S C0VCSNMCNT MIHTINC OFFICE: l»47 / SHARE THIS COPY Government research THE GOVERNMENT of the United States conducts or finances more than half of all the scientific research and de- velopment in the Nation. Such expend- > i !_.. u_;._..'„_:„.. itures during 1947 will exceed 600 million dollars; private outlays during the same 2 j___ ^j^, period will total somewhat less than that. using 3 ii There are 30,000 Federal scientists I facilities and equipment worth 2 billion 4 1 ^ FOR DECEMBER 8, 1947 dollars, their investigations ranging from new varieties of disease-resistant tomatoes to the causes of cancer and the esoteric mysteries of atomic energy. World food conditions Through contracts and other fiscal de- Honor Awards Program, Etc. vices the Government also finances more ADDRESSING the Twenty-fifth Annual than 400 million dollars worth of indus- With this issue of USDA there is being Agricultural Outlook Conference in Jef- trial and university research annually. distributed to you a special statement on ferson Auditorium, November 4, Chief The Nation's total expenditures for re- the Honor Awards Program of the Depart- Hazel K. Stiebling, of the Bureau of Hu- search and development rose from 345 ment of Agriculture, the ceremonies held man Nutrition and Home Economics, million dollars in 1940 to well over 800 in connection therewith November 12, and discussed the World View of Nutrition. millions in 1945. related personnel matters. She gave sufficient background for us to The Government carries on its re- understand why we must eat less and search in hundreds of installations scat- tered through the country and operating waste less in order to prevent starvation is true both in in the under 52 more or less independent bu- elsewhere. Europe and Far East. Only if food-surplus countries ex- reaus located within its major agencies. The world's per capita food consump- port food, especially grains, more ex- The Department of Agriculture alone has tion this coming year will be 2 or 3 per- tensively than last year can this deficit nearly 200 installations here and abroad, cent lower than last, but nearly 10 per- some employing only 2 or 3 scientists, cent lower than prewar; and even then be ameliorated. But to offset the total some 100 or more. The principal other in million had diets shortage Europe would take 6 half the people in the world agencies engaged in research are Com- tons of grain more than was shipped in averaging fewer than 2,250 calories per merce, Interior, Navy, War, Public 1946, more than we can hope to ship person per day. While in the U. S. last Health Service, Food and Drug Admin- this year. Yet we must ship enough to year we ate as much as 15 percent above istration, National Advisory Committee maintain Europeans at least at then prewar levels, consumption in many for Aeronautics, Smithsonian, Atomic 1946 level of subsistence. countries was as low as 30 percent below Energy Commission, Public Roads Ad- prewar. This year the world's produc- Grains are basic and the big decision ministration, Federal Communications tion of food grains may run 1 or 2 per- is whether they are to be used primarily Commission, Veterans' Administration, for food. cent above last, but its production of feed or Furthermore, turning Office of Rubber Reserve (RFC) , and the coarse feed grains will decline at least 5 grain into pork, beef, poultry, and eggs TVA.

percent, perhaps as much as 10. Hence is an expensive procedure in nutritive The Department of Agriculture Is the ma- the production of meat and dairy prod- output. It is people versus livestock, jor civilian research agency of the Federal Government. The scope of its research pro- ucts, fats and oils, will all tend to decline. bread versus meat. The urban popula- gram, the numbers of personnel involved, the The feed-crop shortage is the primary tion of Europe as a whole subsists at a wide dispersion of its field forces, and the to the State ex- factor aggravating the serious food sit- complicated relationships food level almost one-fifth below pre- periment stations present problems of re- uation. It is hard to measure the ex- war. The United Kingdom, using nutri- search organization and coordination second act extent of the feed shortage because to none . . . tion science, disciplined distribution, and grains have such diverse alternative a quota- sound food management throughout, These are random facts and uses and flow into so many channels. tion garnered from Administration for sustains its population at just the level But when they are short, there is al- Research, which is the third volume of to maintain health on far less than we ways a strong tendency to sluice food Science and Public Policy, a Report to the in this country eat. grains into the feed-grain channel. President by John R. Steelman, chair- But most of Europe is far worse off Meanwhile the world's population has man of the President's Scientific Re- for food than the United Kingdom. increased 15 to 20 millions, its food search Board. Volume 2 deals with the reserves are smaller, people in deficit Their populations as a result show faulty Federal Research Program and 4 with countries are in worse shape to with- growth, average weights below the Manpower for Research. All make good stand privation. In surplus countries, \»- health-maintenance level, increased dis- reading for us, particularly the parts industrial activity is at a high level, ease and infant death rates. Yet this about USDA. The reports are available which means higher incomes and great world of famine and near-famine can be from the Library. pressure on food supplies, the temptation turned into a world of food-plenty when- • being to export less and eat more at ever we are disposed to attack the food home. Foot-and-mouth disease problem and solve it as wisely and relent- the present foot-and-mouth Production in the world's food-deficit lessly as we pursued those measures nec- Changes in disease program in Mexico were announced areas is below what it was in 1946. This essary to enable us to win World War II. in press release 2709, November 26.

768271° —47 PMA NOW The BAE is 25 years old Agricultural Outlook

PRODUCTION and Marketing Admin- THIS YEAR, the Bureau of Agricultural FROM HEARING the talk by this title, istration now comprises nine commodity Economics rounded out a quarter of a delivered before the Twenty-fifth Annual and seven functional branches, and four century as the Department's chief sta- Agricultural Outlook Conference, on staff offices which deal with matters re- tistical and economic fact-finding November 3, by Assistant Chief O. C. quiring broad, coordinated action. PMA agency. The Bureau was formed as a Stine, of the Bureau of Agricultural Eco- tvorks very closely with Commodity merger of the Bureau of Markets and nomics, we gathered that conditions were Credit Corporation. Crop Estimates and the Office of Farm generally good and relatively sound, all The nine commodity branches are as Management and Farm Economics on things considered. Prices for farm com- fellows: Cotton, Dairy, Fats and Oils. July 1, 1922, when the sound of crashing modities probably have gone about as Fruit and Vegetable, Grain, Livestock, farm prices was still loud in the ears of high as they will go, unless there is Poultry, Sugar, and Tobacco. They di- U. S. farmers. Much of its work, how- another spurt in the spring of 1948. and rect all USDA programs affecting these ever, antedates its birth. Collection of are almost certain to start declining next commodities, except the basic programs agricultural statistics was first author- year. However, it is doubtful whether of long-established agricultural research ized by Congress in 1839, although con- they will decline to prewar levels for some bureaus. Thus commodity program re- tinuous work in this field goes back only time. No violent recession like that of sponsibility and authority are centered to the 1860's. The foundations for much the twenties is anticipated. in single offices. of the Bureau's farm management, mar- We have what is essentially full em- The seven functional branches are: keting, and other economic work was ployment and all indications point to a Agricultural Conservation Programs, laid shortly after the turn of the century. continuance of this condition for some Price Support and Foreign Supply, Ship- The Bureau has undergone many years to come, though some variations in ping and Storage, Food Distribution Pro- changes in the last 25 years. Many employment are to be expected. This grams, Marketing Facilities, Marketing of the branches of the Production obviously means relative continuing Research, and Fiscal. In general, their and Marketing Administration are de- high prices for many agricultural prod- names strongly suggest their functions rived from the eight marketing divisions ucts. Meanwhile the farm labor situ-

and responsibilities. Should any readers transferred out of the BAE in 1938. The ation tends somewhat to stabilize, it is want a paragraph or so covering a single study of foreign agriculture and foreign not anticipated that wages will rise much branch in more detail, write the editor markets is being carried on primarily by further, while labor is more plentiful. of USDA and he will send this; the mate- Foreign Agricultural Relations. The old However, it is quite probable that farm- rial is somewhat too long to print in our Agricultural Cooperation Division is now ers will face increasing costs for supplies restricted space. ihe Cooperative Research and Service Di- and equipment, as these are likely to rise The staff offices are: Office of Audit, vision of the Farm Credit Administration. further. This would mean net incomes Information Service Branch, Compliance Several other lines of work also have lower than last year's high level. and Investigation Branch, and Budget come in and out of the Bureau, and al- The export market has, of course, and Management Branch. The names most every agency interested in agri- played a great part in sustaining active of the first, second, and last make their cultural statistics or economics at a na- demand for agricultural commodities. functions pretty obvious. The third de- tional level has one or more "graduates" This demand is slackening as these lines velops information and means to facili- of BAE on its staff. are written because of dollar-exchange tate prevention and detection of fraud, Since its reorganization, in 1945, ac- conditions, but implementation of the violations, and irregularities in connec- cording to the recommendations of the Marshall Plan will end that decline. It tion with purchases, sale, storage, ex- Eisenhower committee, BAE has only one looks, for instance, as if we shall export port, loan, price support, and related division that was not in it in 1922—except about a half million bushels of wheat programs. It conducts investigations for separation of the crop and livestock this year, an all-time record. This ex- and installs and services certain account- estimating work into 6 divisions. Its port figure in the face of a shorter corn ing systems. purpose is still largely that —described by crop, requires conservation of supplies; Commodity Credit Corporation en- Secretary Henry C. Wallace "to inquire but with only the average export re- gages in lending, buying, selling, and into every economic condition and force quirements, we should probably right other activities with respect to agricul- which has an influence upon either pro- now be in the position of supporting ." tural commodities, for purposes of sta- duction or prices . . wheat prices. bilizing, supporting, and protecting farm income and prices, maintaining adequate supplies of agricultural commodities, and Breaking New Ground facilitating the orderly distribution Forest Co-ops This Is the title of a new book issued by thereof. Forest Cooperatives In the United States, Harcourt, Brace, of New York City; it Is an • Report 6 from a Reappraisal of the Forest Sit- autobiographical account by the late Gifford uation, has been Issued from Forest Service. Plnchot. who was the first professional for- There were 5 previous reports on other tim- ester In the U. S., and who headed Forest It wasn't so at all ber and forest subjects. One co-op at Coo- Service during its formative years. Procure Dr. In a personal letter, H. K. Wilson, head perstown, N. Y., combines forest manage- from booksellers or the Library. of the Agronomy Department at Pennsylvania ment, processing, and the marketing of for- State College, now on a special assignment In est products on a substantial scale, has a Japan, wrote recently: "I have Just returned thousand members, and covers 31,000 acres Never BAE Chief from a 2-week trip that took me to both which bear 50 million board-feet of timber. Hiroshima and Nagasaki. We had been asked It can produce 2 million board-feet annu- Prof. John D. Black was never Chief of the to check on reports of beneficial effects to ally on a sustained-yield basis, using Its own Bureau of Agricultural Economics as we said crops as a result of the bomb. As far as we sawmill, dry kiln, planer, cut-up saws. etc. on the front page of the October 13 Issue, could see there were no beneficial effects— it For details procure the publication Itself or though A. G. Black was. The phrase should appeared much the same as would happen get No. 2427 by writing Press Service, USDA, have read ''former BAE Chief Lloyd S. Tenny, wherever there was a fire." Washington 25, D. C. and Prof. John D. Black of Harvard."

USDA: December 8, 1947 — : USDA'S HONOR AWARDS PROGRAM AND OTHER PERSONNEL INFORMATION

over and above that officially required of Meaning of the Awards The Awards Program them. He concluded his Foreword thus

ALL employees of the Department, mem- MORE than two decades ago a highly Today, following a pattern developed in this Department, we are attempting in some scientist in bers of their families, and the public also vocal and very distinguished small measure to honor those who have sig- will have pride in the Department's pro- the Bureau of Animal Industry, Maurice nally contributed to the Department's objec- tives of improving American farm life and out to gram for recognition of outstanding con- C. Hall—the man who found how serving the Nation as a whole. We are acutely tributions to the service. Such recogni- rid animals and man of that scourge, the aware that others, quite as deserving of awards as these ladies and gentlemen, have is as matter of justice hookworm wrote and spoke in praise of tion deserved a — not yet come to light. We hope that today's and as a reward for service beyond the the virtues and accomplishments of Fed- ceremony will help us to find and reward them and will also act as a stimulus and Honor Awards pro- eral experts, scientists and nonscientists. call of duty. The inspiration to even greater achievement and vide an additional incentive to spur us They performed distinguished and often more faithful service on the part of every employee of the U. S. Department of Agri- in our aspiration to serve well and to be heroic service but, as he said, they re- culture. commended for it. ceived no citations and no medals, as did The individual winners of the Distin- Nomination by your agency for an outstanding members of our armed serv- Service is in itself a distinction. guished Award were: Honor Award ices. They conscientiously served the for awards are high and they Hugh H. Bennett, SCS, Washington, Standards public humbly and in relative obscurity. will remain high. The high quality of D. C: For his achievement in the field of On November 12, 1947, Dr. Hall would past services once signalized by awards soil and water conservation which has have been delighted, had he been alive, must never be minimized in the future benefited American agriculture and con- to see the Secretary of Agriculture pre- lowering of standards. by a sent Distinguished Service Awards tributed to the welfare of people through- Our Department family, and it is a (medals and citations) to seven employ- out the world. family distinguished in the minds of the ees of the USDA, Superior Service Dr. James F. Couch, BAIC, Wyndmoor, American people as a great organization Awards to forty-some more, and Length- Pa.: For research on the utilization of for national service, knows and appreci- of-Service Awards to employees who had constituents of agricultural commodities ates better than others can the difficulty been in the service more than 40 years which led to the discovery that rutin is and distinction of the contributions that one had actually served 53. This was an active agent in reducing fragility and have merited awards. Members who re- done at a special ceremony in Washing- other capillary disorders in man. ceive awards may always be confident of ton. It was done in line with a policy, a Lewis B. Holt, FS, Clearwater N. F., the deep appreciation and pride felt pattern, and a program developed in the Idaho: For heroism beyond the call of by the Department as a whole and by the Department of Agriculture itself, first of duty which resulted in saving the life of individual members of the Department the great Government agencies to give a fellow employee. family in their contributions. faithful civilian Government servants William A. Jump, B&F, Washington, Our Awards Program is a new depar- medals and citations. D. C: For outstanding service and lead- ture in a long tradition of outstanding This will be an annual ceremony, here- ership in the advancement of public employee achievements. It should help after held May 15 of each year. It administration. suggest to all of us a more alert watch- sprang from the appointment of a Com- Milburn L. Wilson, Extension Service, fulness for persons who are rendering mittee on Honor Awards, September 16, Washington, D. C: For his leadership unusual services, and to further the 1943, General Departmental Circular No. in pioneering ideas and in developing growth and development of fruitful 11. Those who wish to trace the his- programs that have greatly improved careers in the public service.—T. Roy tory of the program should also see Sup- farming methods, encouraged democratic Reid, Director of Personnel. plement 1 to this Circular of May 19, group action, and enriched the qualities 1944, Secretary's Memoranda Nos. 1146 of rural life. of February 7, 1946, and 1186 of February The following unit citations were 11, 1947, with Supplement 1 to the latter awarded locally: of June 20, 1947, as well as the Secre- Northern Regional Research Labora- t The Awards tary's Memorandum to Heads of Depart- tory, Peoria Penicillin Group, BAIC, Pe-

The Distinguished (gold) and Superior ment Agencies announcing the members oria, 111. : For agricultural research which (silver) Service Awards are the same on of the Award Boards, July 18, 1947. made an invaluable contribution to med- the obverse (head) sides of both medals. USDA covered the program in its issues ical science by making the mass The reverse differs in the lettering. The for March 31-April 14, and September 1, production penicillin possible. design is based on that of the Depart- of ment seal and features the corn shock 1947. Orlando Florida Laboratory, EPQ, Or- famous left-handed plow. The and our In the Foreword to the special program lando, Fla. : For development and appli- • laurel wreath signifies victorious achieve- booklet issued for the occasion, Secretary cation of means of protecting military ment. The medal was executed by the spoke highly sci- medallic sculptors who design our coins. Anderson of the pool of personnel against attack by insects and The medal of the design received approval entific knowledge USDA employees have diseases spread by insects. of the United States Fine Arts Commis- developed over the years, of their ability The individual winners of the Superior sion and the United States Mint pro- thus to give the facts promptly and accurately Service Award were: duced our medals. Length of service em- on so wide a variety of subject matter, blems were produced under supervision of Carmelo Alemar, OES, Mayaguez, the United States Mint. and on their willingness to render service P. R.; Richmond Y. Bailey, SCS, Spar-

768272°—47 tanburg. S. C; Dr. Charlotte H. Bo.vt- Acker, Sarah L.. Washington, D. C; Caroline B., Washington, D. O: Sherwood, Alemar, Carmelo. Mayaguez. P. R.; Ballard, Sidney F.. Beltsville, Md.: Sktdmore, Don I.. ner, BAIC, New Orleans, La.; Connie J. William S., Fresno. Calif.; Barber, Ellis E.. Beltsville, Md.; Smith, Walter A., Topeka, Bonslacel, Ext., Little Rock, Ark.; Net- Washington. D. C; Bates. Carlos G.. St. Paul. Kans.; Snyder. Rudolph. Washington, D. C: tie P. Bradshaw, BAE, Washington, Minn.: Eeattie, James H.. Beltsville, Md.; Spaulding, Perley, New Haven, Conn.; Stankey, Arthur H., St. Louis. Mo.; St: Eehler, Clayton R., Kinsas City. Mo.; Ben- D. C; John R. Brtjckart, FS, Eugene, son. Joseph H.. Washington, D. O; Stiles, der. John E., Nashville. Tenn.; Bennett, Oreg.; Porter C. Burris, FS, Forest, George W. (retired), Denver, Colo.; Stone- H., D. High Washington, O; Bishopp, Fred burner, John D.. Dubuque. Iowa; Tellejohn, Ext., Miss.; Thomas M. Campbell, Tus- C, Washington, D. O; Boerner, Emil G. (de- Edwin H., Kansas C:ty, Kans.; Tterney, kegee, Ala.; Martin R. Cooper BAE, ceased), Beltsville, Md.; Boyer, Edward A.. Daniel D., South St. Paul. Minn.; Thomas, Chicago, 111.; Boyle, Herman E., Milwaukee. James H., Beltsvllie, Md.; Truxell, Joseph M. Washington, D. C; Theodore P. Flynn, Wis.; Brown. David E., Upper Marlboro. Md.; (retired). Washington, D. C; Upton. Kath- FS, Portland, Oreg.; Milton H. Fohr- Bryan, Harry (retired), Beltsville, Md.; erine G., Washington, D. C; Vermiliion. man, BDI, Washington, D. C; Harry T. Burchtll, George D., Boston, Mass.; Cady, Rommie O, Indianapolis. Ind.; Walton. George P., Washington. D. C; Ws L. Bert J., Augusta, Maine; Callander, W. F., Gisborne, FS, Missoula, Mont.; Atlee Flavus, Chicago. 111.; White, Granyl.le. Washington, D. C; Calph, Edward J., South H\fenrichter, SCS. Portland, Oreg.; Dr. BeltsvUle, Md.: Zimmerman, James A., St. Paul. Minn.; Campbell. Thomas M.. Tus- Spokane. Wash. R. E. Hodgson, BDI. Washington, D. C; kegee. Ala.; Cartmill, Lewis J.. Fort Worth. Tex.; Cohran, Kenneth D. Jacob, PISAE Beltsville, Md.; John R.. Washington. D. C; Connor, Bernard, Washington, D. C; Cook, Employees of 10. 20. and 30 years' Dr. George S. Jamieson. PMA, Washing- Stanley C, Cincinnati, Ohio; Copelan, service, as well as many of the 40-year Samuel L.. Chicago, 111.; Covington. Percy C, ton, D. C; Arthur J. Johnson, SCS, San service employees, received their awards Los Angeles, Calif.; Cunningham, Bernard J., Fernando, Calif.; Sherman E. Johnson, Los Angeles. Calif.; Daniel. Lena A., Wash- at their official headquarters. BAE, Washington, D. C; David Breese ington. D. O; Davis, Everett W., Providence, R. I.; Dawson. Charles W., BeltsvUle, Md.; Jones, HNHE. Beltsville, Md.; F. P. Domnosky, Herman G., Cumberland, Md.; Keen, EPQ, Berkeley, Calif.; F. Lee Doyle. Conrad B.. Beltsville. Md.: Elwell, Kirby, FS, Denver. Colo.; Francis J. Fred N., Fort Worth, Tex.; Evans, Morgan W., Wooster, Ohio; Featherstone, Marschneb, George D., Cash Awards for BAE, Washington, D. C; Cleveland, Ohio; Ferrall, John A. (retired), Anne E. McFadden, Pers., Washington, Beltsville. Md.: Fttzpatrick. Arthur C. Bos- ton. Mass.; Flaherty, George F.. Fort Worth, D. C; William J. Morse, PISAE, Belts- Suggestions Tex.: Foster, Frank L., Buffalo. N. Y.; Frank- ville. Md.; Theodore W. Norcross. FS. lin, Robert M. (retired), Springfield. Mass.: ON November 7. 1947, Secretary Ander- Fusselman, Washington, D. C; William C. Orr, Jr.. Milton, Harrlsburg, Pa.; Gage. son issued regulations under which cash Charles E., Washington, D. C; Gaunt, FHA, Washington, D. C; Russell R Samuel M. (retired). South St. Joseph. Mo.: awards would be paid for suggestions. Reynolds, FS, Crossett, Ark.; Carl E. Gersdorft. Charles E. F., BeltsvUle, Md.; Secretary's Memorandum 1048. Revision Glynn, Frank J., Newark, N. J.: Goll, Frank Rist, BAIC, Peoria, 111.; Sievert A. 2, is being printed for distribution. L., Beltsville, Md.; Gooch. Benjamin F., Rohwer, EPQ, Washington, D. C; H. C. South St. Joseph. Mo.; Gowe. Clarence B., Copies should be ready early in Decem- Omaha, Neb.; Gutllaume. Seymour. Ext., Corvallis, Oreg.; Ethel E. Michael, Chicago. ber. If you can't wait for the Memo- HI.; Haley. Joseph, Washington. D. O: Smith, Lib., Washington, D. C; Homer G. Hearn. Williamson E. (retired). Beltsville. randum and want to ponder on the basic Smith, FCA, Washington, D. C; Bertha Md.; Heim, Arthur L., Madison. Wis.; Hetsley. provisions of the program, read section Lydia Marie, Washington, D. C; Hodge. L. Zoeller, Inf., Washington, 14 of Public Law 600 Seventy-ninth D. C. Frederic E. (retired), Washington. D. C.j — The following unit citations were Holm, Robert E.. Beltsville, Md.; Holmes, Congress, and Executive Order 9817. Allen, Eeltsville. Md.; Hult, Oscar G., South awarded locally: Eligible suggestions adopted for use since St. Joseph. Mo.: Jenison. Joseph S., National Alaska Spruce Log Program, FS, Ton- Stock Yards, 111.; Jerome, Charles A.. Kansas August 2, 1946. may receive consideration gass National Forest; Bibliography of City. Mo.: Jump, William A.. Washington, for award. D. C; Kelly, James W., Beltsville. Md.; Kil- Agriculture Section, Lib., Washington, loran. John J., San Francisco. Calif.; Knoiir. The Secretary has established a Sug- D. C; Bull Run District, Mount George W., Indianapolis. Ind.; Lash, Elmer. gestion Awards Board to develop stand- Olympia, Wash.; Latimer, William J., Wash- Hood Forest, FS, Zigzag, Oreg.; Cler- ards and procedures and to evaluate ington, D. C; Lawrence. Harvey J., Soux ical Staff, FS, Washington, D. C: City, Iowa: Lees, Fred, Washington. D. O; adopted suggestions. Suggestions en- Ledoux, Oscar M.. National Stock Yards. Forest Products Laboratory, FS, Madison. 111.; titled to an award of $25 or less may be Lehmann, William G.. Washington, D. C; Wis.; Lafayette Ranger District Hoosier Leonard, Harry B., Albany, N. Y.; Lewis. paid for by agencies under delegated Purchase Unit, FS. Tell City, Ind.; Charles O, South St. Joseph, Mo.; Locknane, authority. Agency Suggestion Awards James M., Washington. D. C: Ma well. Moorestown, N. J. Laboratory, EFQ, George E. (retired), Kansas City. Mo.; Committees will recommend on awards to Moorestown, N. J.; Division of Sugar Mackellar, William M., Washington, D. C; the Board. No award may be for less McCormack. Blrtv.lvstle, Kansas City. Kr>ns.; Plant Investigations, than $10 or for more than $1,000. Sugar Beet Curly McGraw. Etta B., Washington. D. C: McKee. Top Project, PISAE, Beltsville, Md.; Di- Round, Beltsville, Md.: McKericher. Joseph Suggestions that are expected to be W., Beltsville, Md.; McLaughlin, Philip vision of Sugar Plant Investigations. S., made in the ordinary line of duty are not Los Angeles, Calif.; McNaught. Archibald, Sugarcane Production, Breeding, Disease, Washington, D. C; Meyers. George W., Har- eligible. But there is plenty of room for and Quality Investigations, PISAE. rlsburg. Pa.; Morgan, Grace S.. Washington, good ideas outside of problems and D. C; Mull, Robert B., Washington, D. C; Beltsville. Md.; Tulia, Texas Work Unit, Myers, Ira M., Omaha, Nebr.: Newman, projects directly assigned to us. A sug- SCS, Tulia, Tex. Robert R.. Allentown, Pa.: Newton. Kowaid gestion that is the basis for a within- M.. Charleston. W. Va.; Pagle. Charles W., Bernard Cunningham of Bureau of grade promotion for superior accom- Jr.. Buffalo, N. Y.: Palmer. Willis A.. Chicago, Animal Industry was unfortunately un- 111.: Parker, Julian J.. Fort Worth, Tex.; plishment may not be considered for a Phetteplace, Frederick R.. Philadelphia. Pa.; able to come to Washington from Kansas cash award also. But an outstanding Pickett. Theodore. Kansas City. K~-"i.; City, Mo., to receive his Length-of-Serv- Porter. Harry W.. Washington, D. C: suggestion for which a cash award Is paid ice Award for 53 years of service. The Quigley, Walter F.. Manchester, N. H.; may become the basis for one of our Qutrk. Agnes J., Beltsville, Md.; Raymont. employee present with the longest serv- new Distinguished or Superior Service Mary J.. Washington. D. C; Reidy, Joh n B , ice in the Department was Joseph H. Harrlsburg. Pa.; Ricker. Percy L., Beltsville, Awards. Md.: Ritchie. Elizabeth. Eeltsville. Md.; Stevenson, Office of Information, Read Memo 1048 and reach for your with Robinson, William O.. Beltsville, Md.; Sass- 47 years. The following received awards cer. Ernest R.. Washington. D. O; Savage, thinking cap. This is as good a way to Edward M.. Orlando. Fla.; Schneider. Fred- for 40 or more years of service in USDA turn your Ideas into cash as we know of. erick L. (retired). Albuquerque. N. Mex ; Se- as of May 15, 1947: horn, Victor H., Washington, D. C; Sherman Quit day-dreaming and cash in. :

Meritorious promotions Bernard Cunningham Our personnel

THE following employees have been ON THE 14th day of December 1893, Ber- PROM the very beginning the personnel awarded pay increases for superior ac- nard Cunningham, then being 16 years of the Department of Agriculture has complishment: of age, took the oath of office as a Tagger had to be exceptionally well-qualified. in the Bureau of Animal Industry, at an Isaac Newton, the first Commissioner of Bureau of Animal Industry: Roscoe Dal- His appointment, Agriculture, appointed as the Depart- ton, Meat Inspector, in recognition of his annual salary of $750. resourcefulness in preventing breakage of dated December 6, 1893, was signed by ment's chemist, gardener, entomologist, skewer thermometers by the attachment of Secretary J. Sterling Morton, an econ- statistician, and so on, professional men , a clip-type safety device. Patrick J. Kinley, Nebraskan of great intel- ranked with the best as to qualifica- Inspector, omy-minded who | Meat for developing a perforated disk to be used as a screen in the filler attach- lectual independence and force of char- tions, education, competence, and expe- ment on sausage-stuffing machines to keep acter, who served as Secretary of Agri- rience. This becomes quite clear in the out string, casings and other foreign material. culture 7, 1893, until March editor's fast nonselling book, Commodity Exchange Authority: Mart A. from March USDA Two Vinall, Clerk, for carrying out a dual assign- 5, 1897. On August 8, 1902, Dr. D. E. Blades of Grass, an account of the De- ment, when administrative in- work was Salmon, the Department's first veteri- partment's scientific achievements. You creased and personnel reduced, in which she displayed unusual resourcefulness, ingenuity narian and first Chief of the Bureau of will find some of the story in USDA Doc-

, and ability. Animal Industry, who assembled therein ument No. 5, Our Department Scientists. Forest Service: Ralph T. Ohman. Adminis- a famous galaxy of scientists, requested Commissioner of Agricul- trative Assistant, for exemplary initiative, The second loyalty and resourcefulness which contrib- that Mr. Cunningham be promoted from ture, Gen. Horace Capron, remarked in uted to the success of the Alaska Spruce Log Tagger at $750 to Stock Examiner at $900 his annual report to President Grant, for Program. Ole B. Lien, Lookout, for out- standing service to the public in rescue mis- a year, and this promotion promptly took 1870, that the Department's sions in the Mount Hood area which required effect. Others followed in due time. work demands a higher order of talent than more than average courage and skill. Lloyd Bernard Cunningham was born in the routine service of most public business; G. Gillmor, General District Assistant, for it requires knowledge of. national economy, exhibiting unusual ability in public relations Missouri, in 1877. He served the BAI a social science, natural history, applied chem- in the handling of recreational activities and mostly in Kansas City, Mo., and Kans., istry, animal and vegetable physiology, and for participating in a number of rescue mis- practical agriculture; and presents so broad sions involving more than average courage until November 25, when he retired at 70. a range of facts in each field of investiga- and skill. James P. Langdon, District Forest He became a Lay Inspector November 1, tion as to demand the most active effort Ranger, for heroic and skillful action in a 1914, a Senior Lay Inspector a decade and the most persistent industry. number of instances and for general out- standing skill later, and a Livestock Inspector CAP-6 in public administration. .He continued Porter C. Burris, Foreman Mechanic, for un- on October 1, 1944. His first efficiency usual skill and ingenuity in constructing For such labor the most meager com- from salvaged materials report, for May 1, 1912, rated him 97; his and improvised parts pensation is offered, and it is found difficult a working model of the Ranger Pal Fire Plow, current efficiency rating is Excellent. He to obtain an increase of suitable service, and and for constructing successive models incor- is the oldest employee of point impossible to remunerate properly that al- porating suggestions USDA in made by field men. ready employed, which is found to be most Brantley of service and every effort was to H. Fraser, General District Assist- made efficient and reliable, while that which is ant, for carrying out a prescribed burning have him come to Washington to receive practically useless for the purpose is offered in program with exemplary industry and for his Length-of-Service Award in person unlimited measure. A Just and wise revision making observations of various techniques of clerical salaries would greatly increase the which have contributed materially to new from Secretary Anderson on November efficiency of the Department. established procedures. Joseph O. Bridges, 12. This, however, proved impossible be- Forest Ecologist, for doing an outstanding Later Commissioners and Secretaries job of establishing cause of illness in his family. experimental planting of Agriculture—the Department's head areas in New Mexico. Horace E. Hedges, This son of Irish immigrants—Bryan Forester, for able direction and leadership in assumed a seat in the Cabinet only in Cunningham and Mary Scanlon, born in working with other public agencies cospon- 1889—echoed these sentiments. Many soring the making of two very successful fire- Ireland, were his parents—has been in control -training motion of them assumed their positions under pictures. the Department for an exceptional Production and Marketing Administration- 'the misapprehension that the Depart- August F. Schimmack, length of time. But he is only one of Fiscal Accountant, in ment's employees would be lazy and in- recognition of his initiative in developing a tens of thousands of USDA employees method for computing wages on efficient. Time after time they found the overtime who are giving the public the same kind which facilitated the preparation of certain exact reverse was true and commented pay rolls. Walter C. Wheeler, Grain Inspec- of intelligent, efficient service. In a form this in their tion Supervisor, for devising and perfecting upon annual reports and he filled out January 2, 1942, he wrote: an automatic flour- and cereal-sampling ma- their public addresses. Over and over chine which has resulted "On account of age a change in assign- in marked econom- again heads of the Department have ics in man-hours, money, and personnel. ment would probably be inconvenient, Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils and Agri- sought better compensation for their em- but will serve in any capacity the Bureau cultural Engineering: Wilbur M. Hurst, Agri- ployees and commented favorably upon cultural Engineer, for outstanding contribu- deems necessary as a defense measure." tion to the fiber-flax, and their competence, their devoted service, poultry-processing There undoubtedly speaks the man and industries through study and application of and their conscientious industry. The engineering principles in these fields which the public servant in revealing terms. present Secretary of Agriculture is no ex- materially lowered costs of operation and To him went a gold pin awarded for 50 increased income for these industries. ception to this rule. William V. Hukill, or more years of faithful service to Agricultural Engineer, in Because of the specialized scientific recognition of his outstanding contribution American farm life in USDA. to the public in the development of better and technical responsibilities it assumed, equipment methods for transporting and the Department early saw the necessity storing perishable fruits, vegetables, and Soil Conservationist, initiating for and com- for adding to its staff expertly qualified grain. pleting a program of seeding sweetclover by Soil Conservation Service: Charles H. Grey, airplane which resulted in considerable sav- individuals of the highest professional Clerk, for developing a procedure for schedul- ing in costs and time and greatly advanced standing. Rather naturally it was the ing work on bookkeeping machines which re- the conservation program in his district. leader among Federal sulted in greater accuracy and speed. Wel- R. Lockwood Forsyth, Soil Conservationist, Government don G. Perrin, Soil Scientist, for developing for demonstrating exceptional ability and in- agencies in developing a modern person- an improved orchard-type soil auger which itiative in solving land-use problems in a par- nel policy and in establishing an Office of utilizes lightweight metals and incorporates ticularly difficult district located at the edge good engineering principles. Elbridge Bacon, of the Mojave Desert. Personnel with a Director at its head. Retiring deposition Tom Campbell Rutin record

"THE REWARD of a thing well done," NOVEMBER 12, the date that Secretary AT LEAST 15 companies are now pro- says Emerson, "is to have done it." Anderson presented awards to USDA em- ducing the new drug, rutin, on a com- ' That's the way I feel about my retire- ployees for exceptional or meritorious mercial scale, Dr. James F. Couch of the ment. I reached retirement age solely service, marked the completion of 41 Eastern Regional Research Laboratory by my own efforts; no one added a single years of service in the Department for reported recently. One company has year to the required total. The accom- T. M. Campbell, oldest employee of Ex- erected a new factory to be used exclu- plishment was not without its shadows, tension Service and recipient of a Su- sively for rutin manufacture; another but I spent 41 of the happiest years of my perior Service Award for meritorious has built a huge dehydrator to prepare life in Bureau of Plant Industry. Soils, service to agriculture and rural life. It buckwheat-leaf meal for its own rutin and Agricultural Engineering. Curi- was on November 12, 1906, that Campbell plant. It is estimated that the annual ously, it was the navel orange that led went to work for the Department as an demand will ultimately exceed 1 million me there. I was visiting the Depart- agricultural collaborator at a salary of pounds of rutin, and that this will call' ment greenhouses. The original navel $1 a year. This, of course, was in addi- for the crop from more than 50.000 acres orange tree was pointed out to me, and tion to an annual salary of $840 which he of buckwheat grown for the purpose. I was told that its introduction into Cali- received through Tuskegee from the This would require an increase of more fornia had meant more money to that General Education Board. than 10 percent in the buckwheat acre- State than its fabulous gold mines. A few days after Campbell was em- age of recent years. Now, the history of the human race ployed to carry out cooperative demon- Dr. Couch, leader of a group of re- has been summarized in seven words: stration work with colored farmers, the search workers in the Bureau of Agricul- They were bom; they suffered; they died. tall, stoop-shouldered youth of 23 climbed tural and Industrial Chemistry, isolated

Tombstones often give even stronger aboard the "Jesup Wagon"—a school on rutin in studies of fundamental tobacco i testimony to the futility of human effort. wheels—tightened the reins of his mules, chemistry. He received a Distinguished Many of them bear only the dates of waved goodbye to Booker T. Washington Service Award on November 12. A small birth and death; between is a blank. and George Washington Carver, and supply of the drug prepared from to- However, most of us want to feel that drove off to carry agricultural education bacco showed that it might have medici- right to the doors of Alabama farm value. Clinical tests by Dr. J. Q. our work is more important than that. up nal , The ideal job, we believe, is one that en- people. Thus began Extension work with Griffiths, Jr., of the University of Penn-

' ables us to make a real contribution to Negro farm families. Today, there are sylvania Medical School, showed that it the general welfare, while earning a liv- over 800 colored farm and home demon- was valuable in the treatment of in- ing for ourselves. The navel orange story stration agents carrying agricultural and creased capillary fragility, a serious convinced me that the Department of homemaking information to some 500.000 cause of blindness. Agriculture offered such jobs. I've had Negro farm families in the South. The research workers then sought less no reason to change that opinion since Campbell is now a regional field agent expensive sources of rutin, and have de- reporting for duty August 1. 1906, even who helps to supervise and coordinate rived it from many plants. Buckwheat though I was merely a "nut" in the the work of Negro agents in seven States proved to be a much better and cheaper machine. After all, nuts sometimes keep from Florida to Oklahoma. Two years source of supply, and research was con- the machine from falling apart. ago he was loaned to the General Edu- tinued through the pilot-plant stage, in- . Now I have retired and am living in cation Board to help make a study of eluding manufacture of rutin from both Southern California where I can watch extension techniques which may be ap- green and dried buckwheat. The crop the oranges turn into gold. I don't dare plied in the improvement of rural life in is harvested before the grain is ripe. West Africa. Alabama still has a mobile Commercial development followed this write about the country, for my friends . might be led to believe that I did not school which makes the rounds to supple- pioneer work at the laboratory. Dr. actually retire, but died and am in ment the work of farm and home demon- Couch reports several physicians now be-' stration agents. Sherman Briscoe, Inf. lieve that the medical uses of rutin are Heaven! To prepare for retirement, get , yourself a hobby now—reading, writing, not limited to the treatment of capillary fishing, stamp collecting, photography, Dr. Stiebeling Honored fragility, but the drug should be useful of hemorrhagic diseases. inventing. Such a hobby may prove even Dr. Hazel K. Stiebeling, Chief of the Bu- in many types more profitable than your regular job reau of Human Nutrition and Home Eco- nomics, received an honorary degree of Doc- has been. And when you do retire, re- tor of Science from Iowa State College in view your life and check up on the things late October. At the same time the college celebrated the seventy-fifth anniversary of Intern Program have missed. If you've never seen you Its first teaching In home economics. Known a baseball game, see one. If you've never Internationally as an authority, Dr. Stiebel- The Civil Service Commission furnishes ing cited for the fact that "to a greater the leadership for two Administrative Intern read of the old civilizations of the new was extent than any other home economist In Programs each year. This program gives Gov- world, do so! Above all cultivate a lively the United States, she has served the families ernment agencies the opportunity to select outstanding young persons who, they think, curiosity and yield to its whims. Then, of America and the world through her out- standing work In the many national and will develop Into administrators or executives. like me, you will never be bored no matter persons from all Govern- international conferences on food and agri- Not more than 30 ; how long retired.—John A. Ferrall, cultural problems held since 1936 In the ment are training each half year. Agricul-. United States and abroad." She was further ture usually selects from two to five out- PISAE (retired). cited for her service with the National Re- standing persons to receive 6 months' admin- search Council and for coordinating the work istrative training. of her bureau well with that of the land- grant colleges. A graduate of Columbia. Dr. Directory BAI directory Stiebeling taught there and at Kansas State Bureau of Animal In Material for the revision of USDA's Direc- Teachers College before entering USDA In The Directory of the in Washington, has tory of Organization and Field Activities has 1930. She became Assistant Chief of HNHE dustry. In the field and July 1, 1947. been sent to the Government Printing Office. in 1942, and Chief in 1944. appeared, revised as of

0. 1 sovroHnrMT »«ikti«c orrKf it«? ! —

Some 25 years ago Don't shoot that insulator! Cornstalk sugar AT THIS time Henry C. Wallace was THE RURAL Electrification Administra- SCIENCE NEWS Letter for November 8 Secretary of Agriculture by appointment tion has joined with its more than a reported that Dr. Ralph Singleton of the of President Harding. He observed that thousand borrowers in a program aimed Connecticut Agricultural Experiment great farmers produced on faith, took at eliminating the practice of shooting Station had bred a new sugar-producing risks, and that 1920 crops were grown at insulators on rural power-line poles. cornstalk containing 8.65 percent of at the highest cost ever. Yet the farmer During the past year, REA received hun- sucrose as compared with 10-15 percent had to take what he could get for his dreds of reports, from every section of for sugarcane. He believed it might be produce while buying in a high-priced the United States, of widespread damage possible for farmers to harvest the ears market. He was producing a surplus he and loss caused by the interruption of of corn and make sugar from the stalks. could not sell, while hungry people electric service from broken insulators. If the ears starved abroad. Transportation rates, In the majority of the cases, the broken are removed, however, the stalks land prices, and rents were all excessive. insulator was found to have been shat- contain more sugar still. The The year 1920 was unprofitable for tered by rifle shots, fired by thoughtless News Letter remarked that cornstalks farmers and their difficulties assumed marksmen whose disregard for the pub- "have never been considered a potential national concern. A national agricul- lic weal was a dominant characteristic. competitor of sugarcane." tural conference was held in Washing- A Denton, Tex., co-op manager re- However, they were. Henry L. Ells- ton. There was an unprecedented drop ported damages to his co-op's lines to- worth, Commissioner of Patents from in farm prices, agricultural commodities taled $3,000 during a recent hunting 1836 to 1844, told in one of his early an- at bankruptcy rates, farmers season. St. Clairsville, Ohio, manager went had A nual reports how a thousand pounds of to borrow heavily, and the farm credit figured up one disruption of service cost good table sugar had been made from system was ill-adapted to their needs. $83 to repair, and a McLouth, Kans., cornstalks in Delaware by not permitting There were few hopeful aspects to the manager estimated repair costs at $96.51 the ears to ripen. In 1838, when Britain problem. Farmers must be frugal, quit for one recent outage. Both outages abolished slavery, it appeared as if her taking up more land, and practice in- were caused by hunters shooting at colonial sugarcane production might de- tensive agriculture, for only larger pro- insulators. cline, and we naturally looked around for duction at lower per-acre cost could en- A tragedy in Minnesota could have other sources of sugar. The French able them to meet foreign competition. been avoided last year if a hunter hadn't botanist, Pallas, first observed that the The War Finance Corporation had damaged three insulators on a rural elec- sugar increased in cornstalks when the saved many farmers from the receiver; tric distribution line. When the lights ears were removed before ripening. the farm land and joint-stock banks had went out in the absence of her parents, About 1850 "Chinese sugarcane," or advanced large sums on mortgages. a 7-year-old girl, the oldest of five chil- sorgho, was introduced in this country Within the Department, many economies dren, tried to light a lantern, with a piece and for a while stole the limelight from were effected though salaries were raised of flaming paper. When the paper cornstalks. Our Department chemists largely because Secretary Wallace held burned her fingers, she dropped it. Only Antisell, McMurtrie, Collier, and Wiley research to be a national investment, the two of the five children escaped from the all worked on it in their successive terms. scientists a national asset, and even bu- house. The other three burned to death. But, in 1881, Peter Collier made cornstalk reau chiefs to be paid far less than they REA has prepared material aimed at sugar in a USDA project, and such sugar would get for similar responsibilities out- curbing insulator marksmen and has sent was also exhibited at the St. Louis Ex- side Government. He said research was it out to its borrowers. Many co-ops position in 1903. In 1912 the Depart- still the Department's basic service. have posted rewards for arrest and con- ment began serious work on the corn- The graduate school had been estab- viction of anyone shooting at insulators. stalk-sugar project, and crystalline sugar lished. The Department needed new Some are enlisting the cooperation of was obtained, but the process proved buildings badly. The Bureaus of Crop schools. commercially infeasible, though the Estimates and of Markets had been con- stalks were said to contain 12 percent solidated, and soon the Offices of Farm We Didn't Mean YOU! of total sugar. Management and of Farm Economics Our compliments to the many USDA Our final report on this was by C. F. entered the merger which became the readers who "took the bait" and were in- Clerk, an agronomist who worked under Bureau of Agricultural Economics. The censed enough over the recent article William A. Orton, but F. L. Stewart ob- study of home economics expanded un- Just Ignorance (USDA September 29) to send for the materials mentioned in it. tained a patent on the process in 1906. der C. F. Langworthy. Government su- A. James Martin informs us that supplies The recent Connecticut work simply pervision over grain exchanges and im- have been exhausted and future requests adds the new touch of breeding corn for proved farm credit legislation were rec- cannot be filled. He also asked that USDA high stalk sugar content. That may ommended. Packers and Stockyards give credit for the good results employees attained in answering the questionnaire truly lead somewhere. Administration, Office of Exhibits, and and called our attention to the fact that the Fixed Nitrogen Research Laboratory 40 percent of those tested correctly an- began making separate reports. In 1923 swered 94 percent of the questions and Brief but important 58 a radio news service is mentioned as hav- percent correctly answered 78 percent of the questions. The survey revealed ing been started. Migrant Labor that, at least every other person in the Research achievement Department is very familiar with the per- This is the title of a pamphlet containing a series of articles by Agnes E. Meyer, Research Achievement Sheet sonnel information he is expected to know, which 84 (E) tells appeared in the Washington Post during about the development by so if you want the answer to a personnel Oc- USDA scientists tober. Extension Service has reserved about of equipment for spraying insecticides from matter ask the fellow next to you or your 30 copies in case some readers of USDA care to aircraft and was largely personnel officer. written by E. P. Our hat's off to the write in for them. Address Division (DDT) Knipling. of Exten- Procure from Agricultural many who scored so well. Keep up the sion Information, Extension Research Administration. Service, USDA, good work Washington 25, D. C.

USDA: December 8, 7947 — "

Seabreeze Christian rural relief Food here and there

Believe It or not, that Is the name of a new Collection of food and of raw materials for The London Economist for October 11 con- disease-resistant wheat developed by TJSDA tained an article of E.. clothing from rural areas in the U. S., and on The Problems plant scientists, in cooperation with those of in table given of "nutrients their use for relief abroad is the function of which a was Experiment Station. It Texas Agricultural the new Christian Rural Overseas Relief Pro- ble for civilian consumption." per per- especially adapted for is rust-resistant and gram (CROP), sponsored by the Church son per day. in the United Kingdom and a the lower Rio Grande to Louisi- the belt from World Service of New York City. European U. S. The figures ran as follows for ana; it does well in the damp winds of the 1947 in S. 1946-47 relief comes first so far, with Japan second, U. and in U. K, respec- are so favorable to rust on most tively: Gull which and other Asiatic countries getting lesser Food energy in calorie-. 3,450 of the old varieties. E. S. McFadden of 2.S80: protein gifts. Between 35,000 and 40.000 bushels of in grams, 99 and £9.4; fat in Industry, Soils, and Agri- Bureau of Plant grain have so far been collected, also consid- grams, 144 and 110.6: carbohydrate^ in grants, Engineering H. Friend of the cultural and W. erable quantities of beans and dried milk. 438 and 380.8; calcium in grams. 1.07 together in Sea- Texas Station have brought Principal items sou:ht are wool, cotton, 1.03; iron in milligrams, 18.6 and 17.7. variety of valuable characteristics breeze a wheat, barley, oats, corn, beans, peanuts, thiamin in milligrams, 2.17 and 1.87; ribo- resistance to stem rust, leaf rust, flavin in milligrams, including other nuts, soybeans, fruits, rice, and meat. 2.46 and 2.02: niacin In loose smut, and mildew. High In protein, milligrams, 21.2 16.7; The organization concentrates its efforts in and ascorbic acid In been developed as a feed crop the wheat has the main agTicultural-produclng areas of this milligrams. 135 and 107.6; vitamin A in In- rather than for flour milling. country. ternational Units. 9,400 and 3,763.

In November magazines Coffee pulp's feed value Growth Regulators Scott, Bureau of Human Nutri- Clarice L. This Is the title of a practical handbook Economics, is the designer of A corn-substitute cattle feed for milk pro- tion and Home by John W. Mitchell and Paul C. Marth of belts, pair of duction has been developed from waste coffee- three smart-looking leather a Plant Industry Station, Beltsville. Md.. long- gloves, and a leather handbag featured in bean pulp through cooperative effort of U. S. time researchers on the subject. The book El Salvador agricultural technicians. Woman's Day. Alfred Stefferud, Yearbook and tells how to use synthetic plant hormones in The product, fleshy editor, is the author of Big Business a new made from the cov- to kill weeds, to make cuttings root quickly, Nutshell, The New York Times Magazine for ering of the coffee bean, can be substituted to improve the storage qualities of rose November 9. Entomology and Plant Quaran- for corn, pound for pound, whereas its dis- bushes, potatoes, and other plants, to in- tine's methods of controlling clothes moths posal hitherto has been a problem, only a crease the yield and improve the quality of are described in Keep It Clean, Collier's, small quantity of It having been used for tomatoes, and to prevent fruit drop and November 1. Half a dozen items involving fertilizer. Additional feeding tests will be hasten fruit ripening. It has only 129 pages, McCall's National Agricultural ~ USDA research appear in made at Research Center and index included, and is well illustrated. It Newsletter, including a new way to make various State experiment stations. If all should be of interest to homeowners, ama- home-rendered lard stay fresh, developed by available coffee pulp were thus used for feed teur gardeners, farmers, professional horti- the Eastern Regional Research Laboratory, it would have a nutritional value equivalent culturists, or agricultural advisers. Simply to and a caution from Forest Service on how to 34.000.000 bushels of corn. For details ask and clearly written, it is packed with prac- make your Christmas tree fire-resistant Press Service, USDA, in zoriting for release No. tical facts and gives lists of available chemi- keep it'in a container of water. 2499. cals, with their trade names and manufac- turers. The book was published by the Uni- R&M projects Corn memories versity of Chicago Press; procure it from tlv 1 Library or buy copies from the Press (5750 The following projects have been approved In November 1932 the Illinois College of Chicago 37, 111.) or your book- bv Administrator Meyer of the Research and Ellis Ave.. Agriculture issued a processed circular on the seller. Marketing Act; get details from press releases, use of corn (12 cents a bushel) as fuel. For requesting them by number and by mail from your information, 50 bushels has the heating Press Service, USDA; Two projects looking to Newsletter value of a ton of coal and a pound of corn, wider uses for poultry products; new and spoiled not. Gerald G. Gross, former science writer on Industry and Eastern and or equals a pound of wood. May- Bureau cf Animal the Washington Post, now edits a Washing- Laboratories; be you'd like to look into this further—or Western Regional Research ton Report on the Medical Sciences, a weekly improved anti- would you just now? 2495. Search for new and newsletter appearing from 1713 K Street NW.. agricultural sources; Bureaus of biotics from Washington 6. D. C. which would offer an Chemistry and Small forest management Agricultural and Industrial occasional outlet for USDA material in the Riant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engi- Farmers' medical or near-medical field. Information neering, National Institute of Health, Duke Bulletin 1989, Managing the Small Forest, tells small people note, please. University School of Medicine; 2521. Seek- how to manage forest properties. It should ing wider markets for deciduous fruits; BAIC, be of special In- terest to our 4.2 million farmers other World Food Crisis and U. S. Virginia (and other) Agricultural Experi- and owners of small woodlots, averaging around ment Stations; 2525. Studies of demand, You will do well to procure and read the 62 acres. In 1945, 71 percent of the small prices, and supplies of feed grains, byproduct digest of the remarks made by Secretary owners cut their trees in such a way as to feeds, and hay; Bureau of Agricultural Eco- Anderson at the Twenty-fifth Annual Agri- leave almost no timber values on the cut- nomics and Production and Marketing Ad- cultural Outlook Conference in Washington. over land; they could grow new forests only ministration; 2526. Predetermining potato He discussed the world food crisis, the Mar- with difficulty, if at all. Only 4 percent cut quality for various table uses; PISAE and shall Plan, and the effect of these on Amer- wisely, leaving forests able to grow and im- . Bureau of Human Nutrition and Home Eco- ican agriculture. Procure this digest b\ prove. The 60-page booklet is written in nomics; 2558. Two projects on tobacco writing Press Service. USDA. and asking for nontechnical, easily read style and Is well standards and marketing; PMA. PISAE, State No. 2534. illustrated. It was prepared Jointly by Forest experiment stations, private laboratories, and Service, Soil Conservation Service, and Ex- N. C. State College of Agriculture; 2559. tension Service, and may be procured free Farm rehabilitation from any of these agencies of USDA. Soybean products A good discussion of Farm Rehabilitation Perspectives in the Postwar Period, by Samuel po- The use of soybean products and their Vitamin A Liss of the Farmers Home Administratloi*- recently tential industrial value was reviewed wili found in the August number (vol A statement by our Bureau of Dairy Indus- be bv Dr. Allan K. Smith of the Northern Re- XXLX. No. 3) of the' Journal of Farm try says that a national survey soon to be re- j gional Research Laboratory, soybean protein Economics. ported will show the average vitamin A po- and its uses assuming top Importance in the tency winter 4-percent discussion. For details ask Press Service, biv of milk and of cream- ery butter, in 21 States, to be: 1,100 Inter- jnail, for No. 2535. national Units per quart and 11,000 I. U. per • DECEMBER 8, 1947 Vol. VI, No. 23 Sweetpotatoes pound, respectively. Summer products run 1.800 I. U. per quart and 18,000 I. U. per USDA is published fortnightly for dlstrl-V * A digest of the talk made by Secretary pound, respectively. Differences are attrib- button to employees only, by direction of Anderson at the Louisiana Sweetpotato Show uted to carotene in the feed. Milks and but- the Secretary of Agriculture and with the and International Exposition, Baton Rouge, ters produced by cows fed only enough caro- approval of the Director of the Budget, as on November 7, will give you a good deal of tene to permit them to bear a normal calf containing administrative Information re- matlon on the subject. He discussed are far below the national average in vitamin quired for proper transaction of the public as human food, the use of the A potency. To supply milk and butter with business. vines as cattle iced, as well as a new variety twice the vitamin A potency now produced Address correspondence to Editor of USDA.. ' of sweetpotato which is especially promising would require 800 to 1,000 mlllgrams of caro- Office of Information. U. S. Department of for feed use, and the production of starch tene per cow dally, or 13 to 17 times as much Agriculture. Washington 25, D. C. Wash- from sweetpotatoes. Ask Press Service, by as that required to produce a normal calf ington or field employees, please write r> mail, for No. 2562. at birth. Instead of phoning.

ft I •C*l (' BT raiMTin MriCI. 1»47 larity

TO WRITE clearly is to think clearly. Correct language indicates a careful mind. It is impossible to believe that scientists and technicians who write fog- gily think clearly. Obscurity, pomposity, jargon, superfluous terminology are all marks of the fallow mind. If you must say "He was conveyed to his place of residence in an intoxicated condition" in- stead of "He was carried home drunk," watch out! The late E. E. Slosson assailed the technician's passion for negatives; he 46 projects have been approved on mar- formulated the following as a typical Research-Markebrglct keting phases, 37 on new and wider sentence, "The present writer is indis- uses, and 32 on miscellaneous projects posed to deny that he is unconvinced of SECRETARY'S MEMORANDUM 1199 other than utilization, in cooperation the necessity of refusing to accept the designated E. A. (Woody) Meyer as Ad- with the State experiment stations. infrequency of negative reactions as a 2 ministrator of the Research and Market- Practically all of the marketing studies not insuperable argument in disproof of ing Act of 1946. Only a small staff is will be done by Production and Market- the theory." maintained in the Administrator's office ing Administration and Bureau of Agri- The novice thus explains the reason for to assist in the general formulation, co- cultural Economics, while research on the new kind of report he hands in, "Due «- ordination, and direction of the program. new uses and production will be carried to the fact that circumstances of a cer- For practical reasons the various com- out by the research agencies of Agricul- tain character made it impossible for a modities or subjects have been grouped tural Research Administration. Accord- treatise of this nature to be handled along into six general categories, an Assistant ingly, 27 marketing and related projects these lines that are well Administrator having general responsi- established, we have been assigned to PMA, and 19 to altered the normal procedure, so render- bility for each. BAE. The majority of the projects on ing it necessary to revise our viewpoints." Henry G. Herrell is Executive Assist- uses production are being con- He merely means, "Since we could not ant to the Administrator on over-all ad- new and prepare the report in the usual way ministrative activities and also Execu- ducted by Bureau of Agricultural and we tried a new one." Scientists sometimes - tive Secretary to the National Advisory Industrial Chemistry and Bureau of Plant get to mouthing phrases that mean little. Committee. J. Roy Allgyer is responsi- Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engi- To say that vitamin is antiscorbutic ble for grain, feed, and seed crops; C. O. neering. More specifically, up to about C acid, the substance that prevents and Bratley for fruits, vegetables, and tree October 15, PISAE has been assigned cures scurvy, is to add little enlightment. nuts; Maurice R. Cooper for sugar, cot- 18 projects; AIC 15; Bureau of Ento- We know little at first hand, much ver- ton, and tobacco; and Harry C. Trelo- mology and Plant Quarantine 7; Bureau products. bally; little by direct experience, much gan for livestock and animal of Dairy Industry and Bureau of Animal inferentially. Assistants for forest products and fats Scientific knowledge is k Industry 6 each; Bureau of Human Nu- largely inferential; science lives in a and oils have not yet been named. trition and Home Economics 5; Forest symbolic world. As few symbols as pos- ' Messrs. Allgyer and Cooper, respectively, Service 4; Farm Credit Administration sible should are temporarily handling matters in be used, and these should be 4; Soil Conservation Service 3; and Office capable of clear interpretation * these two fields. These men act in their and pre- of Foreign Agricultural Relations 1. Only cise definition. respective fields with departmental work- Too often cadence or two projects have been assigned to Ex- emotion determine meaning. ing groups and commodity committees tension Service so far, but considerably Poetry is the language of emotion used _ in formulating programs, coordinating more are forthcoming for that at highest efficiency. The language of such work with the various agencies, ex- agency on the educational and demonstrational science drops the affective use of words - pediting the program, and in necessary phases of the program. to speak and write unemotionally, ob- follow-up. All departmental action or jectively, accurately, precisely. It is not ' operational work under the program is hot or cold, but so many degrees Centi- . done by the respective subject-matter grade or Fahrenheit. Science does not agencies. In addition to the National Land Policy Review say strong or weak, but so many horse- * Advisory Committee, 19 commodity and With issuance of the Summer-Pall num- power or volts; not fast or slow, but so 3 functional or cross-commodity com- ber, the Land Policy Review, published by many miles per hour or feet per second. the Bureau of Agricultural Economics, ceases mittees have been named to get the publication. This magazine began as a Nor is everything A or not A to science, viewpoints of private industry in car- monthly in 1935, when problems in land which can make many distinctions and economics were decidedly to the fore and has long since found out that rying out the act. bold action programs were centered on a many Although some of the work to be done more efficient and intelligent use of our land things also are B and C, and even X, Y, resources. There was need for constant in- and Z. this year under the new act is basic pro- terchange of ideas and information. Ob- n duction research, by far the greatest em- jectives and procedures had to be understood • and promising ideas had to be examined. phasis is being placed on new and wider The Review furnished the forum. As em- COOPERATE FULLY IN THE FOOD uses of farm commodities and on mar- phasis shifted from these problems and pro- AND FEED CONSERVATION PRO- grams and as war came on the Review GRAM TO AID THE WORLD'S STARV- keting research and services. r To date, became a quarterly. ING. 766894° RMA projects Arthur M. Hyde Phone courtesy

THE FOLLOWING projects have been ARTHUR MASTICK HYDE, who was A WAGGISH writer for a New York approved under the Research and Mar- Secretary of Agriculture from March 5, newspaper recently began an article on keting Act since we last went to press. 1929, until March 4. 1933, died the night "How To Be Courteous Though Phon- Numbers indicate press releases giving of October 17 in New York City, where ing" by asking: details: procure them by writing mot he had undergone two surgical opera- "When the phone rings, do you shift phoning) Press Service, USDA tions. Born in Princeton, Mo., he was your pipe, gum, or cigar to starboard Developing practical methods to reduce a graduate of the University of Michigan and mumble into the receiver: 'Frammis prevent insect losses to stored grain and and and of Iowa University Law School; he glub ziblitz. . . . Whossit!' Or are you seed; Bureau of Entomology and Plant Quar- thereafter practiced law in his home town one of those comedians who grab the antine, Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering, and Kansas. Min- and was its mayor from 1908 until 1910. receiver and punish it with: 'For whom Agricultural Experiment nesota, and Georgia He moved to Trenton. Mo., in 1915. does the bell toll?' or. perhaps, only a Stations, others who store or handle grain " outside USDA: 2379. Developing more effi- In 1912 he supported Theodore Roose- mere 'Beat your gums, Bud!' He then cient methods at lower costs for marketing velt and the Bull Moose schism, but was suggested a reading of an article in the feeder and slaughter livestock in Western later elected Republican Governor of telephone "Review" help States; Bureau of Agricultural Economics company's to and experiment stations of 11 Western States; Missouri, serving from 1921 until 1925. you if your telephone discourtesy is show- woods, sumac 2384. Utilization of barks, He caried out a vigorous road improve- ing. leaves, etc., in producing tanning for making leather: Eastern Regional Research Labora- ment and educational program and, in The article dealt largely with John Q. tory; 2394. Modifying the characteristics of 1928, declined candidacy for the Senate. Citizen's irritable approach to the grad- domestic wool to place it in more favorable the latter part of President Cool- competition with foreign wool and synthetic During ually vanishing telephone operator and fibers; Western Regional Research Labora- idge's Administration Mr. Hyde sup- his (possibly also her) tendency to det- improved packaging tory; 2395. Developing ported him actively in his opposition to onate into incredible rages at minor to reduce losses and increase efficiency of marketing and distribution of rice and dry the "equalization fee" feature of the frustrations—all of which we Govern- edible beans and peas; Production and Mar- McNary-Haugen legislation. ment workers should also avoid. Other keting Administration; 2396. Studying the he became Secretary of Agri- are: effect of increased use of corn sugar and When helpful thoughts Identify yourself dextrose for sweetening upon the sugar In- culture, Mr. Hyde announced that he promptly to the caller and end your con- dustry: Bureau of Human Nutri- PMA. BAE. would make few political appointments versation definitely with "Goodbye," so tion and Home Economics. Bureau of Agri- cultural and Industrial Chemistry, Depart- and he kept his word. He was active in the other person will know when to hang ment of Commerce, trade research associa- effecting the wider dissemination of sci- up; don't dial too soon—wait for the dial tions; 2402. Development of new and ex- tended uses and markets for cereal grains, entific and technical information among tone and avoid frantic nervous eruptions. their products and byproducts; Northern farmers, and in furthering cooperative Finally, we are told that haughty secre- Regional Research Laboratory; 2403. Devel- marketing. Since his retirement from taries who insist upon knowing who's opment of new and improved food, feed, and industrial uses for dried beans and peas (and office he had been practicing law in Tren- calling (prior to the brush-off) top the Re- "splits" and hulls); Western Regional ton, Mo. In 1927 he became president list of phone incorrigibles. But why not search Laboratory; 2404. Obtaining new in- formation about cotton insects; EPQ. of the Sentinel Life Insurance Co. of identify yourself immediately, whether PISAE, State experiment stations, chemical Kansas City, Mo., and he was also active calling or answering the -phone? That and insecticide manufacturing companies; in the automobile business at one time. is by all means the best policy. So much 2405. Finding new and improved uses and wider markets for cottonseed and other cot- Mr. Hyde was master of the salty for a New York newspaper and the tele- ton byproducts; Southern Regional Research phrase, a good churchman—he taught a phone company. For your purposes, the Laboratory: 2415. Recovery of nicotine from the wild tobacco plant the Indians were using large Sunday School class while in Wash- instructions we have previously men- when this continent was discovered; Eastern ington—and an adverse critic of what he tioned, devised by workers in USDA's Regional Research Laboratory; 2416. Devel- as dangerous trends in Office of Personnel will be quite satisfac- oping new and improved uses for rice and regarded modern rice byproducts, etc.: Southern and Western physical science. tory. White or call Charline E. Lynch. Regional Research Laboratories; 2418. Pro- ducing high-quality beef more economically: Bureau of Animal Industry; 2432. Study of clusive development has been the dis- the space requirements of farm houses: W. W. Swett covery that the thyroid glands of cows HNHE and State experiment stations; 2442. SWETT IS a dairy husbandman in Bu- from some BDI stations in the South are reau of Dairy Industry's Division of Cat- notably smaller than those from cows at Feed-yeast production tle Breeding, Feeding, and Management. Beltsville. and this gland plays a role in studies M. K. Veldhuis and W. O. Gordon of the His original assignment was the broad milk production. Swett's udder Bureau of Agricultural and Industrial Chem- one of discovering any internal, ex- have demonstrated that, contrary to along with the Dr. P. Phillips Canning ternal, or other anatomical features of common belief, milk is not manufac- Co., have been delving into the possibilities of producing feed yeast from citrus press the dairy animal's structure that could tured during the milking process. This is about one-half com- Juice. Such yeast be used as a reliable measure for evalu- finding has formed a basis for research posed of high-quality protein and is also secretion, rich In B-comple:-: vitamins, and in ergosterol ating milk-producing ability, in lack of in the physiology of milk and which, when irradiated, produces a com- production records. Out of this assign- in milking methods. pound called calciferol having vitamin D-ac- wealth of new information When the current research projects are tlvlty. A 90-pound box of citrus fruit yields ment came a about of press Juice, rich in carbo- and soon the ante and post mortem data completed within 5 years or so, important hydrates and ideal for the growth of yeast, on a thousand individual animals with applications will follow. It is antici- v.n In 3 gallons of this Juice, which is extracted from the production records will be completed, pated that a palpation method will be ground, limed peels of the fruit. During with 120 items on each. Some of the developed which will enable the operator the war. such yeast was concentrated and sold available are to foretell the future producing ability as a sirup to use like molasses, for making data already made being cattle feed. The wild yeast, Torula utilus, used by numerous State experiment sta- of a 4-month-old heifer. Swett and his has been used In developing this promising tions. associates have done an outstanding re- process. For details contact Frank Teuton in AIC. One important though as yet incon- search job in a very difficult field.

USDA: November 24, 1947 :

Do not disturb 50 years ago Tread gently in the winter woods. Those i trees are asleep. No, fortunately they don't IN 1897 "Tama" Jim Wilson, Scottish- DR. HAZEL K. STIEBELING, Chief of snore, but USDA's Dr. H. L. Crane, Bureau ' r"*born and called Tama after the Iowa our Bureau of Human Nutrition and of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural county from whence he came, had been Home Economics, attended the meeting Engineering, says trees usually take a rest, go into a sort of hibernation, before they appointed Secretary of Agriculture, by of the Nutrition Advisory Committee of resume growth and other active processes the next season. &, President McKinley, on the advice of Food and Agriculture Organization of During this period buds will not open and grow even if conditions are A. Wallace's the United Nations, held in Geneva, Henry grandfather, "Uncle" favorable. Length of the period varies; some this 10-19. trees need more sleep than . .Henry Wallace. He was extremely well Switzerland, past September others—the al- mond, two or three weeks; the butternut, equipped for the job and he held the post En route home she visited England and commonly three or four months. The East- longer than any other Cabinet officer Scotland and found rooms cold, espe- ern black walnut requires more rest than most Persian ever held any Cabinet post. In his an- cially in Scotland, and the food afford- walnuts, which require more than the southern California black walnut. nual report for this year he announced ing adequate subsistence but monot- Growth renews in the spring when conditions are favorable to awaken the trees. Short , that a scientist had been appointed to onous. However, the quantities of hot day- lengths put the tung to sleep, and so on. travel to supervise plant tea offered her, in some miraculous way, and and seed Knowledge of the rest period aids in predict- introduction—David Fairchild. for fuel is hard to come by, helped sus- ing cold injury and explaining why certain plants thrive in certain climates. In this first annual report he also dis- tain her normally excellent spirits.

^ cussed the fact that the farmers' homes In Geneva—which she described as Simple life I needed improvement and suggested that almost tropical by comparison the — The recent death of Mrs. Grover Cleveland ' <*vork in home economics be undertaken Standing Advisory Committee on Nutri- reminds the editor of a time long ago when especially directed at raising the farm tion considered a report of Dr. W. R. his father was a food saleman for a big Washington firm. The firm supplied many family's living standards. He wanted Aykroyd, Director of FAO's Nutrition Di- wealthy patrons; it desired also to supply the seed distribution restricted to the send- vision, on progress made during the pre- White House. The editor's father was elected to phone there to the steward. Having done of imported seed. vious year. 23 were ing out He declared Some documents so, it gradually dawned on him that the that the Department's publications were brought to the attention of the commit- phone had been answered by President Cleve- land himself who, sensing his caller's em- inadequate to cope with the growing de- tee by the Nutrition Division. The com- barrassment, genially called the steward and jnand for them. mittee's chief task is to make recom- ail was well. The sale was made. Those were, indeed, the days sweet A Division of Ornithology and Mam- mendations to the Director General of of simplicity. In- cidentally USDA's old Red Brick Building malogy had been established under C. FAO regarding the general direction and got its first telephone in 1879. Hart Merriam, who was head of the Di- scope of the work to be undertaken by the History of USDA vision of Biological Survey. Dr. Atwater Nutrition Division. was in charge of the Office of Experiment The Standing Advisory Committee on USDA Document No. 4, Condensed History of the U. S. Department of Agriculture, " which Stations and Milton Whitney of the Divi- Nutrition serves at the invitation of the offers good material for the orientation of sion of Soils. The appointment clerk Director General for a limited period. new employees, is again in fair supply. That means order up to half a dozen copies by reported that the Department had 2,443 It is at present composed of 14 persons writing, not phoning please, to T. Swann -employees and the annual pay roll was from 11 nations, and Dr. Stiebeling found Harding, Office of Information, USDA, Wash- $1,868,180. the friendly exchange of international ington 25, D. C. Should you need a consid- erable number of copies for special purposes About this time the USDA consisted of views stimulating and helpful. we suggest you have a stencil cut and run Weather Bureau, Bureau of Animal In- copies yourself. k dustry, Division of Gardens and Grounds, Persons in charge of USDA Division of Chemistry, Division of Ento- lortant USDA Document No. 3, Biographies of mology, Division of Statistics, Division of Persons in Charge of Federal Agricultural kBotany, Dvision of Accounts and Dis- Work, 1836 to Date, has been revised, be- Dr. Ockey to State cause of the deaths of former Secretaries bursements, Division of Forestry, Division Gore and Hyde, is again fair Dr. William C. Ockey resigned as Director and in supply. of Biological of It comprises biographies of Survey, Division Pomol- of Marketing Research Branch of Production the Commission- ogy, Division of Vegetable Physiology and and Marketing Administration and joined ers of Patents, Stiperintendents of Agricul- ture (in the Patent Office), Commissioners the State Department on October 8. He is Pathology, Office of Experiment Stations, of Agriculture, scheduled to go to Vienna in December as and Secretaries of Agricul- ture. Procure Office of Fiber Investigations, Division of First Secretary and Counsel. Dr. Ockey was by writing (not phoning, please) T. Swann Harding. Office of Informa- Publications, Office of Road Inquiry, Di- with the Extension Service, Food Distribu- tion Administration, and Production and tion, USDA, Washington 25, D. C. vision of Agrostology, Division of Soils, Marketing Administration, for a total of Section of Foreign Markets, and the Li- nearly 15 years. Animal physiology

/ brary and the Museum. The British Agricultural Research Council, Timber cut with support of the Ministry of Agriculture The timber cut from the National For- and Fisheries and the Department of Agricul- ture ests in the quarter ended September 30 was for Scotland, has cited the need for a new Institute of Animal Physiology Grain conservation 1,127,000,000 board-feet, an increase of 24 which million board feet above the same quarter will be established, with Prof. I. de Burgh Assistant Secretary Charles P. Brannan last year. The value of the cut also Increased Daly of Edinburgh as director. It will study has been appointed by Secretary Anderson $867,000 to a total of $5,430,000. The bulk the fundamental normal and abnormal 'to coordinate all efforts of USDA in grain of the increase came from Washington and physiology of farm, animls. Prof. Daly, a conservation, to bring them into harmony Oregon. The cutting is at a rate of 4 billion physiologist, will have as his principal aids a with the President's program and the active board-feet for this fiscal year which began biochemist and a pathologist. campaign being waged by the Citizens Pood July 1, 1946. Committee. Said the Secretary in his Memo- A woman's suit y randum of October 17: "I desire to make World cotton production sure that Mr. Luckman has the most unified, How To Tailor a Woman's Suit, Miscellane- coordinated, aggressive support that the De- This is now estimated at 26.1 million bales ous Publication 591, is a singularly attrac- partment can give him. To be effective, that for 1947-48, or 21 percent above the previous tive and informative illustrated pamphlet support must be channeled through one per- year's exceptionally small crop of 21.5 bales. on the subject by Margaret Smith, Clothing r son and coordinated so that there is no For details get No. 2447 by writing Press Specialist in our Bureau of Human Nutrition confusion." Service, USDA. and Home Economics.

USDA: November 24, 1947 Apple juice survey Informative speech 52 The Eastern Regional Research Laboratory Secretary Anderson delivered an Informa- On Cctober 23. President Truman and near Philadelphia has just announced The ..d well-organized speech at the Pi. members of his Cabim . lunched at USDA with Secretary Anderson and his aids, in results of its survey of apple juice packed meeting of the National Reclamation . birthday. It in 1946. Results indicate a trend away from ciation, October 30. It dealt with what the honor of the Secretary's 52d was poult: Fish was served. air) and t USDA had done in the field of reclamation ascorbic acid and the centrifuge. No use of and suggested v. I ..do in future. Spe- Incidental intelligence rent relationship was found be; cific mention was made of work of F the vari- the flavor score of the Juice and Service, Soil Conservation Service, the . Animal specialists of the States and USDA ety of apples used, treatment bi cultural Conservation Program, also the soil say that 98 percent single births are th( teurization, type of container, deaeration, use survey?, rural electrification, the Ret' ord for dairy cows, 99-5 percent for bee: of ascorbic acid, nitration, whether the juice Salinity Laboratory at Riverside, Calif., and tie. Most of the rest "are twins. Tri] processing was clear or cloudy, and size of the the Bureau of Agricultural Economics. You occur at a rate of 1 : 103 for dairy cows an d V plant. The Juice maintains its flavor 1; should acquaint vourself with this material; quadruplets 1:14,0C0. For goats." 61 percent ' : when stored around 35 F. than when stored write Press Service, USDA, for No. 2472. of births are twins, 22 percent triplets, and . at 75" P. Juices with a Brix above 12 0.6 percent quadruplets. also usually better flavored than those below. Lymphomatosis Psychic Income for Employees Using alfalfa industrially According to an article in Science for Oc- The Journal of the American Dietetic As- What won't they think of next? Now the tober 24 this disease has been controlled sociation is a most unusual place to look for 4 Western Regional Research Laboratory has genetically, in poultry, by F. B. Hutt and material on personnel problems, but thk developed a new method of processing fresh- R. K. Cole of Cornell's Department of Poul- cle of the above title in its October issue is cut green alfalfa to open industrial outlets try Husbandry. The USDA has a laboratory both informative and inspiring. You are for such products as alfalfa proteins and at East Lansing, Mich., which devotes itself urged to procure the periodical from the pigments. The possibilities of alfalfa prod- in the main to research on this disease. Its Library and read this remarkable discussion ucts In the human diet and as nutrients for Director, Berley Winton, has estimated that of relations between supervisors and other disease, the production of antibiotics are also being the characterized by the accumula- employees; it is by Helen Esray-Chase, Asso- Investigated. The new process first concen- tion of undifferentiated lymphocytes in the ciate Personnel Analyst, Personnel Council, trates the most valuable parts of alfalfa and nerves, viscera, or iris, causes an annual loss New York State Department of Civil Service. then dehydrates this high-value fraction, exceeding 50 million dollars to the United Albany, N. Y. leaving the less valuable portions for feed States poultry industry. use near where grown. For details of the Material you should read in The American Farmer process eet No. 2421 by writing (whether Marketing Activities for September 4 Washington or in the field) Press Service, This book (published by Harper and Bros.) monthly obtainable from Production and Washington 25, D. C. USDA, on the problems and prospects of the Ameri- Marketing Administration, USDA. Washing- ^ can farmer by Lee Fryer, with illustrations ton 25. D. C.) contains considerable mat* Film users it would useful informative by Lloyd Hoff, is dedicated to the employees be and for em- If interested, ask Chester A. Lindstrom, of the Farm Security Administration (now ployees to read. PMA's Assistant Adminis- <• Chief of our Motion Picture Service, about Farmers Home Administration). In spite trator for Marketing. Dave Davidson, writes his Letter to TJSDA Film Users which contains of the dim view presented of the small farm- on Marketing Full Production. Then there use much information of value to all who ers' future Fryer does not believe all hope are three articles on the Research and Mar- keting Act of 1946. the first discussing our movies. is lost. He Is convinced that the fi pro- gress it. farm can endure and can be made into an effi- under the second projects so far ap- Tree planting machine cient unit with rural people enjoying good proved, and the third dealing with the com- Three planting machines will put in three homes, hospitals, medical service and schools, mittees that recommend projects to be rows of a shelterbelt a mile long in a little provided that the people themselves organize pursued. over an hour. They will plant trees too on in their own behalf. He feels that the task Cotton qualify hills and other places where there aren't of rebuilding rural America is primarily a too many big rocks and roots. How some of community job. The book has relatively lew7 If interested in the staple length and these machines were developed, how they pages (163) but these are packed. It is writ- quality of cotton being ginned this year get work, what they cost, how many trees they ten clearly and readably. No. 2397 by icriting Press Service. UiDA. or will plant under different conditions and how procure a full report from Cotton Branch. they are owned and operated is told in Agricultural climatology Production and Marketing Administration. Foundamentals of Mechanical Tree Planter Design and Performance by H. D. Bruhn and Iowa State College has recently awarded a Saving grain half dozen degrees in this subject, the new F. B. Trenk of the University of Wisconsin, Here are two press releases, Nos. 2466 and course having been worked out coopera- in Agricultural Engineering for September 2467. which will give you some ideas about tively with the Weather Bureau. Plans for 1947. ig grain. The first deals with substitut- the course were initiated by H. C. S. Thorn ing forage for grain; the second with meth- of the Weather Bureau and Dean R. E. Opportunity ods of preventing grain waste by insects. Buchanan of Iowa State i ite School, one has yet designed and manufactured ,;nd molds. The details are too involved No in the fall of 1944. This reminds us that shoes suited to the active life of farm to present here. If interested, get the releases work USDA's work on soil began with studies of moisture-proof or moisture- by icriting Press Service. USDA. Washington women—sturdy, climate and soils started by Milton Whitney soles 25. D. C. Write, please, in lieu of phoning, flexlble and medium in the Weather Bureau when that bureau trimly tees whethi :nngton or in the field. heels, comfortable but shaped formed part of USDA. with reinforced tips, durable uppers with scuff- and moisture-resist- Honor Awards Program some ventilation, Fred Lees support, and neat, at- ant finish, proper arch With the next issue of USDA there will tractive, foot-flattering lines. Here's a October Mr. Lees retired at the end of be mailed a complete statement on the chance for somebody. after more than 45 years in the Department, Honor Awards Program and related per- 36 of them in the Office of the Solicitor. He Rats! red USDA as a clerk-stenographer In sonnel matters. Meanwhile vou can re- Press Ser\ice, mail, to Fish and Wildlife Service. Department of 1902, and later held administrative posts In quest USDA, by the Interior, estimates that rats eat or destroy Forest Service before entering Sol. in 1911, send you Press Release 2 ."> 7 7 which tells 200 million bushels of grain a year. Hence, where he long headed the FS Section. He how the awards were made and to whom, entertained at luncheon Solicitor merely pr< 'hat loss would s: was by the on November 12. hundred million bushels a year. In little and staff October 29. Delaware alone Its near half-million rat population will polish off 2 million dollars WANTED! Agricultural Yecrbooks! NOVEMBER 24, 1S47 Vol. VI, No. 24 worth of the food supply this year unless Many of the Agricultural Yearbooks for USDA is published fortnightly for distri- curbed. past years are almost or entirely exhausted. bution to employees only, by direction of of Agriculture and with the Geneva FAO Conference E. G. Moore. Agricultural Research Admin- the Secretary istration. USDA. gets requests from worthy approval of "the Director of the Budget, as The editor of USDA has for distribution people for these books from time to time containing administrative information re- a few copies of a publication telling what and by careful distribution could place them quired for proper transaction of the public . the Third Session see of the where they would be of the greatest value to business. Food and Agriculture O on of the rcatest number. So if you have one or Address correspondence to Editor of USDA, United Nations did In Geneva be more of the Yearbooks from 1936 to date to Office of Information. U. S. Department of August 25 and September 11. 1947. If you spare, put them in the mall for Mr. Moore, Agriculture. Washington 25, D. C. Wash- a copy write In as Indicated bottom last or phone extension 3683 and he will send for ington or field employees, please write column, page 4. this Issue USDA. them. Instead of phoning.

CL S- eOTlRHWrHT ?RI!CTIKC OTTICZ ; l»47 —

USDA food holdings / SHARE THIS COPY THE STORY has gone around that, if the USDA would just release its food holdings, prices would come down and more people would be happy. It is im- plied that the Department has "hoarded" quantities of food. So the Secre- 1 huge tary had a check made recently to see what stocks Commodity Credit Corpora- tion was holding. The figures them- FOR DECEMBER 22, 1947 selves appear relatively large at first glance. Actually the total price-support food- amounted Late in November officials of the two stuffs held by the Department Nation's Foot-and-mouth queries countries agreed to change their plan of to one-tenth of 1 percent of the 1947 food production. In short, controlling the disease in Mexico and total notes with lively A USDA correspondent and in terms readily understood, if all they are endeavoring to develop the best interest that "shop foremen" and "yard- the stocks were released at once, they possible alternative plan for checking the men" are employed in the project in would provide the equivalent of one States is help- spread of the disease and keeping it t Mexico where the United square meal for each of us and the stocks eradicate foot- within the present quarantine area. ing its southern neighbor represent a third of a day's national con- and-mouth disease. What are those em- Vaccines have not been authorized pre- sumption. But it is not that simple. doing there is the specific a control measure in Mexico, ployees down viously as For instance, we hold no shell eggs very easy one to an- been regarded "^"question—and a because their use has not suitable for consumer distribution; we correspondent asks also about swer. The as favorable to complete eradication of hold dried eggs already offered for ex- its | the Comision Mexico-Americana and f the infection. The official consultations port, or frozen eggs in large containers )hJ functions. now in progress, include vaccination to- which are being offered for domestic sale The suppression of foot-and-mouth gether with strengthening of quarantine now when egg production is low. We disease calls for the prompt destruction lines and any necessary slaughter of in- hold late-crop potatoes for winter use of infected and exposed animals. Sci- fected and exposed animals. and "farmer stock" peanuts not yet proc- ence has shown this method to be the into either edible or oil form. It Bureau of Animal Industry issues de- essed most thorough, in fact the only one fully The tailed mimeographed reports, about once a is clear that reports of our price-support effective. Stamping the infection out in month, on the progress of the eradication stocks on hand are greatly exaggerated. Mexico means greater safety to the live- work. For basic information consult Farm- ers' Bulletin No. 666, or Research Achieve- Moreover prices have generally been States. stock industry of the United The Write call Informa- ment Sheet No. 29A. or above the mandatory level, hence have i usual method of disposal is slaughter and tion Division, BAI, Ext. 5787, for the mimeo- graphed reports. not required extensive support programs- deep burial, with quicklime added to car- casses. Cleaning and disinfection of 20 million acres to be treated with the premises follow. These operations call SCS now Service's assistance. The appropriation for lots of equipment and supplies for such operations is $38,000,000. rifles, ammunition, power shovels, bull- THE SOIL Conservation Service is de- Other SCS programs are: dozers, trucks, jeeps, disinfectants, pending on intensified effort and in- Research: This essential phase of the Serv- creased effectiveness its total fc. pumps, tanks, and scores of other items. to keep ice's work is concerned, as in the past, with the most immediately pressing problems, Procuring and maintaining all that technical aid to farmers at least up to with a necessary reduction in the number equipment require the services of experi- the level of last year's accomplishments, of projects as compared to the preceding enced engineers, mechanics, shop fore- though this assistance must be spread fiscal year's activities. Research funds avail- able total $1,048,000. men, and yardmen. thinner in attempts to meet increasing Land utilization: Maintenance and grass- Many work at a central equipment de- demands. land development work on nearly 2 million acres of Government-owned submarginal pot and automotive repair shop in Mex- All but a small part of SCS facilities, lands will be carried on, but to a reduced h 'jfico City; others are in the field. These consisting principally of technical per- extent because of certain imperative struc- tural-repair expenditures which take priority. essential workers aid the veterinarians, sonnel, are made available through Total money made available for this program the main key employees who direct field farmer-voted and farmer-managed Soil was $1,600,000. No land-purchase funds are available. operations. Sanitary technicians, ap- Districts, their request. Conservation at Water conservation and utilization: Work ' praisers, paymasters, and other trained Between 15 and 20 new districts continue under this authorization will continue, with $624,201 available for the fiscal year. It con- workers complete the organization. Units to be organized each month. July ft On 1, sists of the development of land for irriga- of the Mexican National Army help, too, 1947, they totaled approximately 1,900 tion purposes, including dividing the land into suitable family-sized units and the sale f by maintaining quarantine and perform- jj and included more than a billion acres. of such improved farms to veterans having ing guard duties. In general charge of Thus the average assistance available purchase preferences. Nineteen such proj- ects are authorized in the 17 Western States. the project is a joint commission men- per district is limited automatically in Flood control: SCS, in cooperation with the tioned above, in Spanish, composed of direct ratio between the number of such Forest Service, is doing flood-control opera- authorized the Mexican and United States officials. districts and numbers of SCS personnel. tions work in 11 watersheds, as f under the 1936 and 1944 Flood Control Acts, L^ Our name for it is: The Mexican-United The 1947-48 goal set at the start of the in addition to continuing investigations and additional watersheds. States Commission for the Eradication fiscal year, when the appropriation surveys in about 50 for this wort r Funds available to the SCS of Poot-and-Mouth Disease. figures were known, was approximately during the present year total $4,452,330. * 789715*—«T — —

Spreading the risk Miss Hall in Holland Death to bloodsuckers

LAST YEAR the United States shipped WHEN THE Associated Country Women EXPERIMENTAL work by scientists in the largest quantity of food ever sent of the World met in Holland for its the Bureau of Entomology and Plant from any one nation in any one year, Fifth Triennial Conference, September Quarantine shows that infinitesimal and 19 million tons—40 tons a minute; 80 8, 550 women from 22 countries were in apparently harmless doses of some of percent of this consisted of grain, mostly attendance, representing various coun- the newer insecticides may be fed to " wheat. For the period 1934-33 annual try women's associations, societies, and rabbits and will render their blood lethal world exports of all grain avei clubs. The last meeting was in London to typhus-carrying lice and yellow-fever- 28,387,800 long tons, of which the U. S. in 1939—before the scourge of war and carrying mosquitoes. But don't try this | supplied 4.6 percent. During the 1946- destruction had enmeshed the world on your dog or any other domestic ani- 47 crop year, surplus-producing shipped so it was only natural that much of the mal yet. The work is still in the experi- to deficit nations 28,387,800 long tons of discussion centered around ideas for mental stage, though the initial findings grain, of which the United States alone solidifying world peace. Florence L. indicate that something paralleling the supplied 52.4 percent. These figures Hall, Extension Service Field Agent. use of the sulfa drugs and of antibiotics speak for themselves. represented the Department of Agricul- may be in the immediate offing. The True, our farm output rose 13 percent ture, making the trip at her own expense. method is novel; the experimental results '"» above prewar in 1941 and 36 percent by Two significant resolutions that the are highly significant. 1944. But we have also had 10 straight conference considered were one urging But please remember: No practical ' years of good crop weather and a Con- women throughout the world to use their applications of these results have yet^ - gress that wisely provided support for leadership toward the avoidance of been attempted—either in human or vet- prices of war-expanded commodities for future wars, and another calling for con- erinary medicine, or in the field of pest • 2 years following the official end of World tinued studies leading to development of control. However, the findings do open War n hostilities. Things were very dif- a common world language to overcome a new field of investigation in medical v ferent after World War I when, in the much misunderstanding that leads to and veterinary science, entomology, and 13 months between May 1920 and June war. chemistry. One pest killer, identified 1921, prices farmers received fell 52 per- The Associated Country Women of the chemically as 2-pivalyl-l. 3-indandione, cent while prices of the things they World is a league of groups rather than was by far the most effective against the bought dropped only 18 percent. Re- individuals, with international head- louse, registering a 100-percent kill of cently most farm prices have remained quarters in London, and a membership these bloodsuckers when present in a well above support levels; but our heavy fast approaching 5 million. It is organ- rabbit's blood in a dose equivalent to five farm production has exacted a toll in soil ized primarily to foster friendly relations millionths of the animal's weight, and fertility. between groups of country women of all even slighter doses enabled the animal Moreover, in spite of all that we nations and to aid in forming new or- to build up a reserve of louse poison in have done, the peoples of war-devastated ganizations of them where they are not its blood. countries have received neither as much already organized. The election of Mrs. Thirty-three chemicals have been food as they needed nor as much as they Raymond Sayre, the first American pres- tested against the louse, 31 against the were eager to buy. Yet "we have been ident of the association, was a real event. Aedes mosquito, benzene hexachloride gambling against nature for 10 years She is an Iowa farm woman whose train- being by far the most effective against now" and ultimate crop failures are in- ing and experience in organization the latter. While further studies are evitable. "The margin of safety in food eminently qualify her for its leadership. under way on the toxicology of the supply in too much of the world depends Miss Hall reports that the American chemicals used and other phases of the upon good weather and good luck in pro- delegation—85 women, including 10 treatment, a wholly new method, deadly duction in this country." Hence we must home demonstration workers—were very to blood-sucking insect pests, may finally spread the risk further of aiding world pleasantly entertained by Dr. William be evolved for widespread use. The work recovery. For more detail on how this H. Riddell, United States agricultural was reported by E. F. Knipling, R. C. should be done procure Secretary Ander- attache in Holland, whose headquarters Bushland. F. H. Babers, G. H. Culpepper,, son's important policy talk delivered in are at the Hague. He accompanied the and E. S. Raun You wil find details in York City, called New November 20, and delegates on a tour of the industrial and press release 2685; procure it by writing, "Spreading the Risk of World Recovery." agricultural exposition, then on display not phoning. Press Service, USDA, Wash- Write Press Service, USDA. and ask for there. Miss Hall observed that the spirit ington 25, D C. No. 2645. of the Dutch is high and Holland's come- back after 5 years of occupation is re- Hydroponics markable. The Dutch people are imbued Practical information The other day we noticed an advertisement with courage and a cheerful good nature Food and Home Notes for October 22 re- In a magazine because it was headed "Where that enable them to take rationing of lease tells the housewife how to deal with "Die Good Earth' Is II O." It turned to out grass-fed beef, explains the sweetness of the i i how the Quartern short food supply and the other parsnip, and shows how rhubarb may be [wo Jlma, Japan, and aftermaths of war in stride. Flowers used to protect the teeth against erosion by' vlnc-rtpened, garden- acids. Address Inquiries to Helen C. Doug- •' abler, In water — Instead Ol are a big business here, and fruit farm- lass, Press Service, USDA, Washington 25, D. C. It thei Ibe the method i ing is another important industry. hydri ponies • Maryland ly, the ad- Decision for Bill nod that In doing this, Russ Lord, former USDA employee, covers

. . Ulan resear* b spec- "A Decision for Bill" Is the title of a new the State of Maryland ably In November

In USDA I had been and effective USDA movie depleting a deci- Holiday, naturally saying a good deal about , drawn up sion made by a university senior seriously to farming. Lovers of Baltimore will find this by the Oi \rmy and Air Force me branch of the Department's city well-sketched In an article in the same Recruiting Sir work as his lifetime career. Issue.

USDA: December 22, 1947 — The American Radio IEFC to FAO Brief but important This book by Llewellyn White, published The International Emergency Food Coun- by the University of Chicago Fress, is highly cil, by unanimous vote November 11, recom- Can or tin recommended by Kenneth M. Gapen, Chief of mended its own dissolution and transfer of USDA's Radio Service, as required reading for its functions, organization and staff to a new What is this lacquered container for nutri- psychology, sociology, jour- International Emergency Food Committee of substances, or a tin? Quite an students of radio, tious a can the Council of the Food and Agriculture argument has raged about this in England nalism, public affairs, and mass communica- tion. it likewise to the ordi- Organization of the United Nations. We * and reverberations actually reached the dig- He commends nary citizen who would like to have a better have a few copies of the document telling i nified columns of the London Times. The radio in these United about this transfer. For a copy write, please Ministry of is said to have mistaken understanding of the Pood do not phone, T. Swann Harding, Office of cans for tins, and the cannites are purists States. Information, USDA, Washington 25, D. C. who argue that the containers were orig- inally sheet-steel canisters thinly coated with Elkanah Watson Statlab visitors tin, but the tinnites say that "can" is mere Agricultural History for October 1947 (vol. slang. do English transatlantic How USDA 21, No. 4) contains an article entitled "Elk- The following recently visited the Statis- experts feel this earth-shaking ques- about anah Watson's Activities in Behalf of Agri- tical Laboratory at Iowa State: Dr. Frank tion? culture," by Hugh M. Flick, who has produced Yates, Rothamsted Experimental Station, ) an unpublished monograph on Watson's England; Dr. P. V. Sukhatme, Ministry of Mules a luxury? career. Watson was a remarkable individual Agriculture, India; Drs. Cenek Adamec and who promoted the first agricultural fair, in Ivan Viden, Czechoslovak Institute of Public Yes, if they stay on the farm after the the Berkshires in 1810; performed agri- Opinion, Prague. Dr. Yates also lectured at tractor arrives, according to a study made by who cultural experiments, and published the re- Iowa State; Drs. Viden and Adamec told how » Bureau of Agricultural Economics and the public opinion polls got started in Czecho- South Carolina Experiment Station. Mules sults in pamphlets which he distributed at his expense; progressive slovakia; and Dr. Sukhatme, after partici- on 131 tractor-equipped farms in Anderson own who advocated agricultural legislation; labored for bet- pating in the International Statistical Con- County, S. C, worked an average of 36 days and ference in Wasuington, visited Ames to study a year, ate 365 days a year, consumed food ter canals, turnpikes, and railroads in aid of farmers. recent activities in this field there. .worth almost $150 at farm prices, hence it In 1820 he predicted that there cost 41 cents an hour to "operate" them, as would be 133 million people in the United compared with 23 cents an hour for fuel for States by 1930. A native New Yorker, Watson Flying beetles a small tractor. Some mules worked only lived near Pittsfield, Mass. Flick's article is This summer Bureau of Entomology and 20 days anually and their feed bill averaged recommended to your attention. Plant Quarantine inspectors stopped the pro- 75 cents per hour of work. First insured mortgage loan jected flight of 2,800 Japanese beetles which were trying to hitch-hike by airplane from Grain conservation There was quite a ceremony, October 3, at beetle-infested airfields in Washington, Bal- Americus, Ga., when Robert A. Hale, a native A Grain Conservation Handbook. 1947^18, timore, Philadelphia, New York, and Newark, Georgian, became the first person in the has been issued by the Office of the Secretary, to beetleless sections of the United States. United States achieve farm ownership * replete with information on the subject and to They closely checked 7,000 flights. They su- under Farmers Home Administration's in- reasons for the program. It not only tells pervised the application of a thin film of sured mortgage loan service. Present were from aersols farmers how to conserve grain, but fills in DDT over hundreds of com- the background on what caused the world Senators Walter F. George and Richard B. mercial—both freight and passenger—and Russell, Representative Pace, Gov. food crisis, the effects of the stringency on Stephen military planes. They sprayed with DDT the afflicted populations, and the distribution M. E. Thompson, President H. L. Wingate, of beetle's favorite food plants in the imme- pattern of the grain to be exported. Procure the Georgia Farm Bureau, FHA Administra- diate vicinity of heavily infested airfields, this handbook from Information Branch, tor Dillard B. Lasseter and its State Director, using mist blowers for the job. The past Production and Marketing Administration. R. L. Vansant, plus farmers, bankers, insur- summer's program for preventing beetle ance executives, representatives of the press spread by airplane was the most compre- Stuart A. Postle and of agricultural agencies. Incidentally, hensive yet attempted; it also yielded the get County Gentleman for October and read largest number of interceptions for any sea- Mr. Postle, who entered the old Bureau of how FHA provides tenant farmers with a son since this type of work became necessary.

| Chemistry the same day with present Com- ladder that enables them to climb up from missioner of Foods and Drugs. Paul B. Dun- tenancy to ownership; the article attracted New OFAR mag bar, died in retirement a short while ago. wide attention. Entering the old bureau July 29, 1907, he In January 1948 the Office of Foreign Agri- retired only 2 years ago, in obvious good Can't keep 'em down cultural Relations will issue a magazine health. He was long Chief of Food and Drug which will be a consolidation of Foreign Agri- We just saw a letter from H. A. Allard, Administration's Cincinnati Station. He was culture and Agriculture in the Americas. photoperiodism's codiscoverer, now living in just about to be elected mayor of West Jeffer- While it is to be entitled Foreign Agriculture, quiet fireside retirement well he's warm, if son, Ohio, his home town, where his death — it will carry the type of articles formerly not at the fireside, occurred. for he's mountain and appearing in the two previous magazines. In valley-hopping in the Dominican Republic style and format it will follow closely that of temperature 93°F., water in brook 85° Dr. McKain to Storrs F., Agriculture in the Americas. Paid subscrip- humidity—a fog. Unsophisticated wasps tions are obtainable from the Superintendent Dr. Walter C. McKain, Jr., of the Bureau have been stinging his eyes shut as he col- of Documents, Government Printing Office, of Agricultural Economics resigned on No- lects mosses and lichens, and he had a furi- Washington 25, D. C. Write Office of For- vember 1 to become professor of rural soci- ous hrawl with a sandbox tree.- This vicious eign Agricultural Relations, USDA, Wash- ology in the University of Connecticut at woodland treasure has poisonous sap, toxic ington 25, D. C, for a sample copy if in- Storrs. Dr. McKain, who completed both his seeds, intimidating spines, and a capsule terested. undergraduate and graduate work at Har- that explodes. So Dr. Allard got the sap on vard, has been engaged in farm population him, ate some of the seed, got in range of Typist, stenographer, secretary and rural life work in BAE since 1938: as the shrapnel, fell into a branch, stabbed two ^regional leader at Upper Darby, Pa., and at deep holes in his palm, and enjoyed the Civil Service requires a stenographer first to passing Berkeley, Calif., and, for the past year, as affray hugely, finding it very educational. get a mark in typing; failing that, head of the section on levels and standards Dr. Allard has other tropical explorations in competitors automatically fail in the entire It of living in the Washington, D. C, office. mind which his son, "softened by age," says exam. has found that there are indi- are impossible. That's the way our retired viduals who have unusual coordination of brain and hands enabling them to type rap- Bachman Back from Harvard scientists live—peace, quiet, tranquility, and a fireside chair. idly and accurately any material they can Kenneth L. Bachman is back at his desk see, but who rarely if ever make good stenog- In farm management, Bureau of Agricultural Programs! Programs! raphers or secretaries. Also there are excel- Economics, after a year of graduate study at lent stenographers and secretaries who mere- Harvard, where he held a fellowship award Possibly a few of you, especially in the ly do an acceptable typing job, but cannot from the Social Science Research Council. field, may not have seen the rather hand- compete with the first-mentioned group in Except for about 2 years in the Navy and the some program issued in connection with speed or accuracy. Yet the best stenog- past year at Harvard, he has been with BAE USDA's Honor Awards Ceremony at the raphers and secretaries should be able to since 1938, including 2 years in BAE field Sylvan Theater, Washington, D. C, Novem- type accurately and with reasonable speed. offices. Mr. Bachman graduated from Okla- ber 12. The editor has pursuaded Office of Mediocre typing skill will not enable them homa A & M in 1936 and took his master's Personnel to let him have a few copies of to do their other jobs satisfactorily. So says from Illinois in 1938. His recent stay at it and, if you want it enough to write in to Civil Service. We'd go further and say that Harvard satisfies residence requirements for him, as per bottom last column page 4 this nearly everyone who works in an office, in his Ph. D. A native Oklahoman, his work and every issue of USDA—first come, first whatever capacity, should learn to type ac- in BAE deals mainly with research and farm served. You can't follow the events with- curately and rapidly, for that skill is a management problems of the South. out a program! mighty big help in any office job.

USDA: December 22, 1947 ,

Tom Campbell, author Twenty million gardens Pictorial Continuity

T. M : i Extension Servlci That's the goal for next year. 20 million The beginner in cinematography will find ' saga of his v. Freedom Gardens; Paul C. Stark is in charge enough fundamental advice in Pictorial Con- cooperative extension, a personal account of of the campaign. Food produced in these tinuity, by Arthur L. Gaskell and David A.' his career, his successes, and his public life, gardens can be substituted for other foods Englander, to prevent future headaches and in a ' > -oklet, The School Comes to stand shipment better and will be save many dollars. The chapter on "Angles" the Parmer, published by Longmans Green, led by peoples hungrier than we are will be of great value to the beginner, and 55 Fifth Avenu d also likely to be. Garden clubs and groups of under the heading of "Panning" the d

:ble from libraries and your i bors can often save by combining efforts common fault in amateur cinematography store. Tom. who h a historic con- and getting supplies at lower prices. Those Is brought to light. The amateur movie tribution to the advancement of c who garden in bed have a few weeks of prone cameraman will find enough material in this people by showing thousands of theiij activity in store, though where the ground is profusely illustrated book to Justify an even- to become successful farmers, is hinv neither frozen nor too wet it could be spaded ing's study. Procure from the Library, your great gray-haired, stoop-shouldered Ini now for planting the earliest crops, the rough bookseller, or Duell, Sloan, & Pearce. Inc., 270 tlon. but Just about the most human one soil being left to catch winter rains and Madison Avenue, New York City 16. (Com- you ever chanced to i:. snow. In any case weeds and diseased plant municated by Chester A. Llndstrom, Chief charm is exceeded only by that of hi. remains may be cleared away. of our Motion Picture Service.) and daughters. Postwar Japan Heredity New insecticide project new Under this title, with the subtitle "How The Journal by this title, published bv Oliver and Boyd of London and Edinburgh, A project for developing Improved equip- Long Must We Help Her?"—Nathan Koenig, Executive Assistant to the Secretary, gives has now issued its first number. Devoted in ment and suitable formulations for apt . the main to genetics, it is edited by the newer insecticides and fungicides has been in the autumn 1947 number of The Land, C. D Darlington (now head of William approved under the Research and Marketing a comprehensive, Informative digest of basic Bateson's old institute) and R. A. Fisher. It has five Act, and will be carried on cooperatively by troubles in Asia. The article is well illus- collaborating editors, three from Europe our Bureaus of Plant Industry, Soils, and trated with photographs taken by the author. and two from the United Agricultural Engineering: and Entomology A while back Mr. Koenig was a member of States, and will have 1 room for historical, review, and critical and Plant Quaranu: the Idaho. Ore- a Joint War. State, and Agriculture Mission con- J tributions, as well as for records of new re- gon, '. n (and other) agricultural which travelled over Japan and Korea on a search. Papers In fields experiment stations. Get release 2689 from survey of food and fertilizer requirements. the of cytology, sta- tistics, Press Service by mail for details. The article is too long to spoil by abstracting biochemistry, evolutionary theory -» : here but, if at all interested in the subject, and breeding w ork are acceptable, insofar as they are related to genetics. Weed seed oil you will find It well worth your while. The Library gets The Land; to purchase copies Ernest B. Kester of our Western Regional address it at 1368 North High Street, Colum- War Records Monographs Research Laboratory recently reported on the bus 1. Ohio. Tour attention Is called to this series of * production from the seed of a weed, common processed publications being Issued by Bu- in California and the Northwest, of a valuable Policy statements reau of Agricultural Economics. No. 1, b- oil similar in character to rape and mustard Erling Hole, Important policy statements are treats Farm Machinery and oils, Among of which we have insufficient for lubri- Equipment; No. 2. by George W. Collier, is the one made November 21 by the Secretary / cating and edible-oil purposes. The new oil Soil Conservation before the Joint Committee on the Economic During the War; No. 3, by is made from pennycress (also called fan- Roy A. is Report, on the need for encouraging increased Balllnger. Sugar During World War weed. French-weed, dish mustard, and treacle II; No. 4. by F. food production In other countries, and the M. Johnson, Is on War Food wart i which has become a serious problem Order other there the same day by Carl C. 135—Veterans' Preferences for New- in grain fields and can cause a heavy dock- made Assistant Administrator the Farm Machinery and Equipment; and No. 5, age of wheat. Thus a common nuisance may Farrington, of Production and Marketing Administration. by Alvin T M. Lee. Is Acquisition and Use become raw material for the production of allocation controls. Procure from Press of Land for Military and War Production a valuable vegetable oil, and possibly other on writing Purposes, World War II. weed seeds may be processed to yield useful Service, USDA, by for Nos. 2675 and respectively. Secretary Anderson's No- oils later. 2669, Secretaries Succeed vember 10 talk before the National Associa- Who In this new book - Safety tion of Commissioners, Directors, and Secre- —available from libraries taries of Agriculture, at Biloxi, Miss., Is also and bookstores—a successful secretary to a The USDA Safety Council holds monthly well worth your perusal; ask Press Service for big Industrialist tells how she achieved her meetings to discuss and later publicize in- No. 2561. Finally, there Is the Secretary's eminence. If one may believe a story by formation on this subject. At a meeting held statement on the food situation with especial Dorothy Brandon In the October 31 New York In November such subjects were discussed as reference to the quantities available for for- Herald Tribune (and why not) this Is a book the organization of Jack County, Texas. Rural eign aid, made before the Senate Committee aspiring secretaries should read closely and Fire Fighters, Public Building* Construction on Appropriations, November 24; ask for No. ponder well. Its author. Esther R. Becker, for Fire Safety, the proper use of poisons to 2687. "a researcher at heart." has for years kept eradicate rodents, the handling of ammonium notes on her own bad traits and the problems nitrate, and so on. For more information on Research and Development Reports she and other secretaries face, and has* this Important subject contact S. P. Lvle, tried to realize and overcome her defects. This Is a new venture, a publication to Extension Service. "Touchiness" is the trait men most dislike appear twice monthly beginning January 1. In secretaries, but mannish, matter-of-fact 1948. Its editor and publisher Is former Economical dairy ration women are also obnoxious. The author rec- USDA and Department of Commerce em- ommends good telephone technique, and her ployee, John Perry. It will offer yet another Bureau of Dairy Industry Issued in Novem- secretary, who is secretary to a secretary. outlet for of our Information. For 4-page processed leaflet on "How to some she pays special attention to the bosses' details as to what It will be like contact ' Make Up an Economical Dairy Ration" which chapter on How to Relieve Your Boss of De- Perry at 1416 F Street NW., Washington 4, should be especially useful now. To procure, tails. (Did she write the book?) Final address Information, Bureau of Dairy Indus- D. C. thought emphasized by several successfu!t- try. ARA, USDA, Washington 25. D. C. secretarles interviewed: Girls, dress carefully Potato story and always wear stockings, no matter how Goals The Department's mandatory price-support hot the weather is. activities The national goals which call on farmers on potatoes and on eggs, and the for top production recent results thereof, are again outlined In 1948. and are not December 22, 1947 Vol. VI, No. 26- .t from clearly In Press Release 2693, In the form of will be found in Press Release 2G83: pr a letter from Secretary Anderson to Senator USDA Is published fortnightly for distri- SDA Flanders. Ask Press Service for it by niail. bution to employees only, by direction of the Secretary of Agriculture and with the Wm. A. Weld Swedish visitor approval of the Director of the Budget, containing administrative Information re- Ruth Wallensteen of Llnkoplng. Swe- Mr Weld h( '1 of the Flood Control Sec- quired for proper transaction to the public tion. : Director of the Swedish Government's business. Professional School of Domestic Science and Address correspondence to Editor of USDA. 5. C of the Home Extension Service for the Prov- Office of Information. U. S. Department of , the A D. C. Wash- m ince of Ostergotland, recently spent some Agriculture. Washington 25. activities In the M He field employees, please write nd exten- ington or was In ?< instead of phoning. ' Arm;. sion specialists. She will be In this country colonel In May 1946. 7 months. U 1. GCVt GXHCIIT -BIKTIK'. OTFICt- H47 -