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About The Oregon statesman. (Salem, Or.) 1916-1980 | View Entire Issue (April 15, 1928)
Legumes Make Up a Necessary Link in the Chain LEGrMES THAT COME BEFORE OTHER CROPS INCREASE THOSE OTHER CROPS ELEVEN' TO 33 PER CENT SEVENTY-EIGHTH YEAR A Branching Variety of Sweet Corn Promises Much in This Field Sweet corn is a typically Ameri can vegetable, one of the greatest delicacies of the garden. Corn breeders have worked fro years to develop field corn, the great farm crop, while the table delicacy, sweet corn, stood still and new rarieties came slowly. It is a dif ferent story njw. and now sweet corns are oiierea eacn year. A new branching variety intro daced this year seems to be what scientists would call a mutant, the unexplained appearance of a new type, which may greatly increase the yield of the average corn plantation. On the new type of breeders have worked for years to a plant and some times as high as six. while the older types do not average as much as two good ears to a stalk. This corn appeared in the gar den of F. C. Kevitt of Athenia, N. J., several years ago. The seed was saved and planted and the trait of branching at the ground Into several stalks, each of which bore ears of corn, reproduced it self. It required several years to "true" the stock so it would re produce the type from seed. The plants are said to average 6 feet tall, the ears to average 7 inches in length and the quality is said to be of the best. Golden bantam introduced a new era in sweet corn and it has been the most popular home gar den and table corn ever grown. It has been the subject of experi ment among plant breeders for years and there are a number of hybrids with older and larger types, the object being to take the sugary sweetness of Golden Ban tam into a larger ear. The work of plant breeders has taken a different tack recently with Golden Bantam and that is to isolate earlier and better strains. The earliest strains have been varieties of white and black corn, the squaw corn as it was formerly known. The early trains of yellow corn did not come so easily but they have now been secured in Golden Bantam. As corn has been hybridizing through the processes of nature for many years, plant breeders find it necessary to inbreed or self-fertilize over a period of from five to seven years to unscramble the family relationships and traits. This has been done until at last an early strain of Golden Bantan maturing eleven days ear lier than the earliest known strains and three weeks earlier than the latest strains has been isolated. Com breeding involves a rather difficult task, as the quantity of pollen shed by the tassels makes it necessary to cover both tassel and silk completely to prevent stray pollen falling upotfMhe silks. A LADINO PL iNT WIZARDS WH WITH CH Fainnmio 1 WAY M ASTERS ARE THE QUEENS OF THE FILL HU1LS; A WIDE VARIETY Asters are the queens of the fall annuals, the greatest material of their season both for cutting and garden decoration. There is such a wide variety in this useful plant that it is sometimes diffi cult to make a selection. The two general types, the branching and the ostrich plume, are the most desirable for the main crop of asters. The late-branching types give a great crop of flowers with good stems showing an inclination to an incurved shape. The os trich plume section, which includes the Crego. has curled and twisted petals inclined more to out-curving, following, in a general way, the tendency in chrysanthemums, of which they have become rivals in size and beauty. The Giant of California and American Beauty type are noted for the size of the flowers and the length of the stems which they offer for cutting. Those with late-branching types are especially valuable. Asters need rich soil, a liberal supply of moisture and good cultivation. But even with these conditions, they have de veloped several plagues that have discouraged many gardeners. as it is the contact of pollen nad silk that causes a kernel to form on the cob. each strand of the silk representing a kernel. Paper bags were used to pro tect the plants employed in the breeding experiment and the silks were fertilized by hand from the pollen of the same plant, the seed ripened and planted and the pro cess continued until strains that would breed true from seed were established. Corn feasts were celebrated events among the Indians in the early history of the country, and particularly in the history of the Mandan Indians of North Dakota. The French explorer. M. de la Verendrye. in 183S describes a corn feast by these Indians given !in his honor when he visited the tribe. CLOVER BOOM IS STARTING IN THIS DISTRICT and W3 BETTER THAN LAST SALEM, OREGON, SUNDAY MORNING, APRIL 15, 1928 Chief of these is what is known as the yellows, the blooms never developing their true colors, but remaining a greenish yellow, de formed wad. This trouble, it is now known, is carried by certain insects. Root aphis give more trouble. A dress ing of hardwood ashes when the asters are set out has proved one of the best means of starting them on their way to a healthy career. Asters may be sown either in doors, in frames, or in the open ground, all depending on the earli ness of bloom desired. This is also regulated by whatever the seed planted is of an early flower ing or late flowering type. This is a matter of selection from cat alogues. 1 New anemone flowered and sin gle types have gained great popu larity during the last few seasons, the Sunshine asters being the finest example of the anemone flowered type and unusually beau tiful and graceful in soft colorings with different colored centers. Any of the new large-flowered single strains are good. This type is one of the most artistic for cut ting. WE SHOLO GROW The United States Is Now Wisely Sending Scientists to New Guinea (Under date of April 4. the press service of the United States department of agriculture, under the heading, "Sugar Cane Special ists Will Explore New Guinea for Disease-Resistant Varieties." sent out the following:) Having come to the conclusion that New Guinea Is the native home of sugar e-ane, the United SH of Our Growth ectiomi tiiteiiis YEAR States department of agriculture ( has organized an expedition under j the leadership of Dr. E. W Bran- j dcs. sugar plant specialist, which j will use an airplane in searching j the unexplored wilds of the island j for disease-resistant cane varieties that may prove valuable to the in-j dustry in Louisiana and other parts j of the south. ' Doctor Brandes was scheduled ! to sail from San" Francisco April j 12, accompanied by Dr. Jakob Jcs- weit. who was formerly chief of I sugar plant breeding work in Java! and now of the University of1 Wageningen. Holland: and Rich-! ard K. Peck, who will pilot the plane. Peck acted as pilot for the Stirling expedition to Dutch New Guinea under the Smithsonian In stitution in 1926-27. These men will be joined at Honolulu by S. E. Pemberton, entomologist of the Hawaiian Sugar Plant association experiment station, and proceed to Port Moresby, the base of the ex pedition on the southeast coast of New Guinea. The plane, a Fairchlld cabin type, will be furnished by B. G. Dahlberg, president of the Celotex company, makers of synthetic lum ber from sugar cane bagasse, who is also interested in 6ugar cane plantations in Florida and Lou isiana. Equipped with pontoons for landing on rivers, lakes or oth er bodies of water, the plane will make possible the exploration of the interior portions of the island otherwise inaccessible or difficult to reach. The study is expeeted to take from six to eight months. The Australian government is co operating to make the expedition possible and successful. While the idea of such an ex pedition has been under considera tion for the past six years or more, it has not been possible to bring it about until recently. Depression in the sugar cane industry of Louisi ana and other parts of the south resulting largely from the declin ing yields caused by mosaic and root diseases, has given impetus to the project. ! The P. O. J. Canes j The most feasible method of im- proving the production Of sugar j cane in the south is by the use of) varieties that are resistant or tol erant of these diseases. Some favorable results have already been accomplished by the introduction of several improved varieties de veloped af" the Proefstation Oost Java, the experime'nt station main tained by private planter in Java. These varieties have given such satisfactory performance in tests during the past six years that spe cialists have been encouraged in the work. More than 170.000 acres were planted in Louisiana last fall with varieties recently in troduced from Java. "We believe," said Doctor Brandes, "that the best solution of the problem depends on sticking to the search for tolerant varieties until even better ones are devel oped. "In New Guinea, where we be lieve sugar cane is indigenous, we know that varieties arise by cros- (Coiitiutifd on p(fr 8.) and Well Being IN POLK AND MARION Till? - FINDING MADE FROM TESTS PV statp: AND rEP.K I. PRICE FIVE CENTS SUPPLTT DF GREENS They Are Good for What Ails You, and They Are Good in Every Way "Greens" furnished an old-fashioned dish because they were pood for what ailed you whether you liked them or not along with the old-fashioned spring tonics, sulphur and molasses and other hygienic horrors of a bygone age. Their health-giving value is now recognized, but on a sounder sci entific basis, and they are popu lar because it is not a duty to eat them as it was formerly. There is opportunity to appreciate their flavor without prejudice on the ground of medicinal diet. Spinach, the earliest of all greens, is a brief crop in the home garden. Other greens are needed to take its place. The standby is the beet, both the root types and the swiss chard, which doesn't form a large root but runs heavily to foliage and produces greens all summer. To some the chard is a rather insipid, vegetable. For these mustard, green are a real these mustard greens are a real old-fashioned, when it was cus tomary to cut down the mustard crop of Veeds in the fields and gardens by pulling the young plants for greens. The garden va rieties are so superior as? hardly to1 ho recognizer! in the same class with the weeds, although the lat ter has excellent flavor when cooked. The garden mustards are used both as salads, green, and as cooked greens. There are two types, the large leaved useful for cooking and the small leaved use ful for salads. The Chinese and Southern Giant are large-leaved sorts excellent for cooking and giving liberal crops of leaves. Tho White London is a small, smooth leaved sort which grows quickly and gives pungency to salads. The Fordhook Fancy has become the most desirable of the salad types because of its curled and fringed leaves, being as ornamental as parsley and attractive for garnish ing as well as for salads. The mustards will grow In any ordinary good garden soil. A packet will fnrnish an ample sup ply. It is best to plant a short row of each type, one for salads and one for greens. Thin th plants to three inches to give them a chance to develop. The fancy curled should have six inches to reach their best develop ment. Mustards are seldom grown in the homeogarden, but they are well worth a try, and once tried, they are likely to be come fixtures. ' Some of the miniature tomatoes will prove popular with the chil dren as wel as being fine for pre serves. Hed plum, red cherry, red currant and their yellow va rieties are all good. KEEPING UP THE