(0
SOUTHERN OREGON MINER
F arm
T opics
J
Scientists Find Method to
Refrigerate Liquid for
Army Emergencies.
______________________ Id
THE VEGETABLE SEDAN
Henry Ford has just turned out a
car with a plastic body made largely
from vegetables. It is part salad
and part automobile.
THIN OUT HERDS
TO CUSHION DROP
Suggest Meat Producers
Insure Future.
By PAl’L L. MALONEY
(Kataasioa Sarrica, Unirarntj •/ Narait
Agricultura Sarrica.)
It marks the triumph of the
vegetable over the steel industry.
Henry
with the
man who
wipes his
has been experimenting
idea for years. He is a
always looks ahead. And
own windshield.
• • •
A farm boy. Hank always nour­
ished the notion that the “Man With
the Hoe" could do anything that
could be done by the “Vice Presi­
dent With the Blueprint." And after
all there was nothing so fanciful in
the idea of making an auto out of
vegetables. Henry had been mak­
ing spinach out of automobiles all
his life.
Henry’s first problem was to find
out which vegetables would go best
in automobiles. He could dismiss
the cucumber at the start. Too
many people won’t have anything to
do with cucumbers.
• • •
He then considered onions, but
dropped them quickly. After all, he
was making a car. not a hamburger
• • •
Lettuce and tpmatoes were
suggested, but vetoed after the
opening debate. Mr. Ford did
not want the public to get his
car confused with a reducing
diet.
• • •
The soybean had begun to poke
its noggin up and attract attention
for some time. Of all vegetables,
none has gotten ahead in life like
the soybean.
The jelly bean, the string bean
and the lima bean were better
known, but never got anywhere in­
dustrially. (Once in October, 1928. a
string bean did succeed in getting
into the reception room of Mr.
Ford’s offices, but it was kept wait­
ing so long that when the word final­
ly came, “Mr. Ford will see you
now," it had gone stale.—Ed note.)
But it was soon found that almost
anything from a harmonica to a
trailer could be made from the soy­
bean. and Henry always liked a bean
that was ambitious and full of get­
up and go.
In 1932 somebody suggested that
automobiles could be made from
hay, but word came from Detroit
that Mr. Ford was satisfied to keep
on making hay from automobiles.
• • •
Anyhow. Henry has succeeded in
his experiments, and in the priori­
ties crisis has found a way to make
a flivver almost entirely from the
vegetable garden. The plastic ma­
terial has 10 times the strength of
steel in resisting a blow. It's the
iron in the vegetables.
• • •
Of course, the government can
throw a monkey wrench into Mr
Ford’s car by putting the soybean
and other vegetables on a priorities
list. Anyhow, good luck to the idea
But we hope we don't get another
one of those tire jacks made out of
mashed potatoes.
• • •
THE CALL
C’OPM wants Marlene Dietrich’s
legs for use in drive to popularize
stockings made from silk substi­
tutes."—News item.)
Hark, Marlene!
The 0PM *
Calling for
Those famous stems
Listen, kid—
Your country begs
For the right
To use those legs.
All must make
Some sacrifice;
Give those legs!
They will suffice.
Ankles such
As yours, Marlene,
In a war
A lot may mean.
Forward, then.
With calf and knee—
In the cause
Of victory!
•
•
•
L
AGRICULTURE S
IN INDUSTRY |
By Fiorente C. Weed
(Thia is one of a senes of articles show-
ini how farm products are hndtni an im­
portant market tn industry.)
Cellulose for Plastics
Hairbrush bristles from wood, but­
tons from milk, fountain pens from
soybeans. These are commonplace
articles in everyday use, chosen
from the 1,000 or more articles be­
ing made from plastics.
The word “plastic” describes a
new chemical process whereby cer­
tain farm products are ground to a
powder, mixed with chemicals and
color, then hardened in molds into
the shape of articles in everyday
use. In this material, the color pen­
etrates each molecule and does not
have to be surface finished.
You have seen these objects many
times—pencils, ash trays, toy ani­
mals, buckles and inexpensive jew­
elry. Soybean plastics make stand­
ard parts of Ford automobiles such
as door and window frames, horn
buttons, light switch levers. From
wood and cotton plastics come color­
ful handles for tools, radio cases,
lamp bases and telephone receiver
sets.
Wood, cotton, soybean and casein
plastics are being commercially pro­
duced, and a pilot plant in Louisiana
is making cheap plastics from sugar
cane on a small scale. Still in the
experimental stage are plastics
made from corn, known as zein. In
Maine, experiments are under way
to develop potato plastics which re­
semble clear glass. Other good pos­
sibilities which have not been de­
veloped are corn stalks and grain
straws, pig and cow hair and poul­
try feathers.
While plastics are still in the
gadget stage, research has started
to adapt them to automobile and air­
plane bodies and housing materials.
Sheets of proper strength and color
have been perfected and are waiting
for someone to find a practical
scheme for fastening the sections
together.
•
LAMENT
Baby fingerprints to poets
Are sweet and quite a thrill;
Methinks they've never washed 'em
off
A grimy windowsill.
—Beatrice Gittleman.
•
Culling herds of all undesirable
cattle and sheep is excellent insur­
ance against the time when there
may be less demand for meat prod­
ucts.
By selling oft the undesirable ani­
mals now. the livestock producer
can realize good prices, and, when
more cattle are needed, they should
be bred through the introduction of
high quality sires.
The U. S. bureau of agricultural
economics reports that there is an
increase of more than 2,000,000 head
of cattle and that the index price of
beef is 125 per cent.
The question naturally arises.
How can the livestock man protect
himself from these extremes in the
cycle of low and high prices and
large and small numbers of stock? J
How can he prevent the calamity
which has followed the rise in price
and subsequent increase in num­ .
bers?
By vigorously culling the herds al
this time producers will be enabled
to put their financial houses in order, I
to get rid of their mortgages and ,
find themselves with surplus funds.
All thinking stockmen who have
gone through extremes in numbers i
I
of livestock and price cycles wiU
advocate a straightening out of the
|
cycle by knocking a little off the
peaks and boosting up the bottom
of the curve. This will prevent, to I
a great extent, the confusion which ,
exists after every break in prices i
when there is a surplus of stock on I
1
hand.
While it is natural for stockmen
to desire to keep every heifer and
every cow which will produce him
a calf to sell at the high prices,
yet in the operation of any success­
ful business enterprise it often re­
quires the careful analysis of the
past experience in order to make the
best use of the present and future
of the business.
During the first World war live­
stock prices skyrocketed to a very
high figure; these prices encouraged
the producer to expand his opera­
tions and at the same time encour­
aged the consumers to substitute
many other cheaper, yet less de­
sirable, foods for meat.
•
The Chrysler company is turning
out scores of tanks per week. Of
course it had the advantage of still
retaining the designs for that mode)
it turned out about 10 years ago with
both ends alike.
Agricultural Notes
Gathering eggs frequently will re­
duce the number of dirty eggs.
•
•
•
Cooling eggs as soon as they are
gathered, to as near 50 degrees as
possible, will prevent spoilage.
• • •
Top-dressing haylands with ma­
nure or fertilizer after the first cut­
ting will help produce a good crop
of second cutting hay.
Four Missing
in Million Dollar Fire
C
Use Milk Can to Preserve Blood
CHICAGO.—Two scientists have
recommended the common milk can
as an effective means of storing
blood for army emergencies "under
all military conditions."
The "milk can" bank was ex­
plained by Drs. Elmer L. De Gow in
and Robert C. Hardin in War Medi­
cine, published by the American
Medical association and the national
research council's medical division.
Terming the product of their in­
vestigation "a new, simple method
for collecting, storing and transport­
ing human blood plasma." the Iowa
City, Iowa, physicians said they had
developed and tested a bank which
would have the following recom­
mendations:
Practical usability under shell
fire
Ability to withstand long distance
shipment in any vehicle.
Easy maintenance by a supply
sergeant or other enlisted man.
Use limited only by accessibility
of snow or cracked ice for repack­
ing every 18 to 24 hours.
Make Many Teste.
The doctors disclosed that the new
preservation method was equally ap-
plicable to whole blood and blood
plasma (fluid part without red cells)
but stressed the significance of
plasma.
■*
Physicians consider plasma of
vital military importance because it
can be used for quick transfusions
without matching the type of the
patient.
De Gowin and Hardin made the
principal unit of their bank by fit-
ting large glass flasks, in common
use in hospitals, with rubber stop­
pers allowing self-closing needle
punctures.
Tests showed the flasks could be
Immersed in ice water for long
periods without leakage, and the
contents safely administered direct-
ly from the flasks. They found that
the red cells would precipitate in 24
to 48 hours.
Next, the scientists developed a
delicate temperature indicator, sim-
pie enough for layman or soldier
to read. A supply sergeant or some­
one else, the doctors said, could dis­
card flasks whose indicators showed
proper temperatures had not been
maintained.
j
eration containers, Hardin and De 1
Gowin discovered after several ex- I
periments that "the commercial ;
type of 10-gallon milk can" was
moat practical. Covered with Insu­
lated jackets, such cans accommo­
date 10 flasks and enough ice for 12
to 24 hours.
"The transportation of blood In
these individual refrigeration units
ought to be particularly practical
under shell fire," the doctors said,
“for the cans could be disbursed in
many types of vehicles so that somo
would almost certainly arrive at
their destination."
To test tlie banks, the physicians
shipped two consignments of cans,
one 720 miles by automobile and one
3.539 miles by airplane. The con­
tents in both shipments were trans­
fused to hospital patients requiring .
Flaming box cars are shown In the dramatic photo above of the
such treatment.
From 40 transfusions, there was I mysterious tire which swept through a block long wheat warehouse and
only one unfavorable reaction, that I two tish reduction plants In Porta Costa, Calif. Four men arc missing
of a patient suffering chills and j and feared drowned. They were from a sea-going tugboat, a wheatblower
fever.
I barge and a whaling boat, all destroyed In the tire.
■» v-w
>
■w* Trv > -y
rw
‘Paralyzed Oath' It
New One to Courtroom
b
I
Thornton AV Burcfes
ess :
that he was following Peter. When
he reached the place where Peter
had turned and ran back along his
T WAS a smart dog who was chas­ own tracks he was puzzled and
ing Peter Rabbit. There was no stopped barking. After a little he
question about that. Even Peter began to work back. He suspected
himself admitted it, and you know what Peter had done, but he wasn't
Peter is rather inclined to think that quite sure and he didn't bark much.
dogs are very easy to fool; in fact When he reached the place where
that they are not smart at all. But Peter had made the long jump to
this one wasn’t easy to fool. Peter one side he stopped barking alto­
Peter smiled.
He knew
had tried every one of the common gether.
tricks and not one of them had both­ just how that dog wus running buck
ered that dog for more than a few and forth trying to make out where
minutes. It was clear that he knew Peter had gone. After a while he
He had found the
a great deal about rabbits and their barked once.
ways.
Peter wouldn't have minded this
particularly it the dog had been
alone, but when Peter found that a
hunter with a dreadful gun was look­
ing for him and was standing where
he could shoot Peter if he should
try to run to the dear old Brier
I
Patch, why then Peter did begin
to get a little worried. It was very
clear that he must get rid of that
dog somehow. Without the dog the
hunter never could find him, never
1
in the wide world.
Find Milk Can Best.
So Peter ran a little harder than
Searching for economical refrig- before, lipperty-lipperty-lip, just like
that.
When he had almost caught up
with the dog, Peter ran off to one
side in a straight line a little way
He could tell juot what that dog
and he ran very fast Then he turned
around and ran straight back in was doing ■■ wrll as If he were
By V.V.
his own tracks almost to where he watching him.
had turned off and there he did a place where Peter had touched the
very surprising thing. That is, it ground after his long leap.
would have been surprising to any­
Now, that dog had patience and
one who didn't know Peter and his
perseverance. He kept at it until
tricks. He leaped off to one side,
at last he found where Peter had
making just the longest leap he pos­
started for the Laughing Brook.
sibly could so that there was a long
Once more his voice rang through
distance between the place where
the Green Forest.
But when he
his feet left the earth and where they (
reached the Laughing Brook he
touched it again. Then he did it
stopped barking. You see the run­
again and again and still again.
ning water had carried awuy Peter’s
After that he headed straight for
scent. Peter chuckled. By and by
the Laughing Brook and when he
he heard the hunter come over and
reached it he ran along in the water
talk to the dog and encourage him
on the very edge until he came to a
to hunt for the lost scent. Then he
hollow log lying on the bank. That
heard the hunter come tramping
log was hollow its whole length and
along the bank of the Laughing
open at both ends. Peter crawled
Brook. What do you think happened
into it from the end nearest the
then? Why, that hunter sat down on
Laughing Brook and there he made
the very log in which Peter was hid­
himself comfortable while he rested
ing. Yes. sir, that is just what he
From Paris comes this new eve­ and listened to the dog.
did! He sat on the log while the
He could tell just what that dog dog hunted and hunted for the lost
ning coiffure, created by a leading
French hair stylist. Up, but WAY was doing as well as if he were scent.
up, in front—into two formal curls. watching him. You see Peter leaves
Of course it made Peter a little
Smooth over the ears and a long a little scent in his tracks. He can't bit nervous, but he just had to laugh
kleek curl at the back of the neck. help it. So all the dog had to do was to himself to think how close to­
A jewel at the brow and at the to keep his nose to the ground and gether he and the hunter were with­
nape of the neck, by way of ele­ follow that scent. All the time he out the hunter having the least idea
gance.
kept barking to let his master know
of it.
PETER AND THE HI NTER ARE
CLOSE TOGETHER
I
Minnie Make-lps
(Associated Newspapers
World’s Most Narrow Harbor Entrance
Here
fonr-lane
entrance
and nine
negotiate
is the narrowest harbor entrance In the world, spanned by a
highway bridge of the Oregon Coast highway, U. 8. 101. The
from the Pacific ocean to Depoe bay, Ore., Is only 22 feet wide
feet deep. Only fishing craft, trawlers and sports boats can
the tortuous channel.
PORTLAND, MAINE.—A "par­
alyzed oath** has no standing in
municipal court.
Answering a
churge of assaulting a woman, a
defendant in the court said: “I’ll
take a paralyzed oath Unit I never
struck her.” The defendant ex­
plained a “paralyzed oath" meant,
"I will be paralyzed by the Al­
mighty if I don't tell Uie truth."
Dried Human Blood Used
With Success in Clinic
HOUSTON, TEXAS. — Dried hu­
man blood plasma thut can save Ufa
for as long as five years after being
taken from the donor's veins was
one of the chief chemical develop­
ments on display at the recent Texas
Pharmaceutical association conven­
tion
The product, perfected by a lead­
ing pharmaceutical firm, was re­
leased for general hospital use June
2 after more than 10 years' experi­
mental work In clinics and labora­
tories under the supervision of lead­
ing scientists.
Its chief advantage is that It Is
usable after long periods whereas
liquid blood Is seldom kept more
than four weeks.
The product is made by freezing
plasma to over 100 degrees below
zero. With less than 1 per cent
moisture when it Is dry. It Is sealed
in vacuum containers and dis­
tributed for hospital or other pro­
fessional use.
Liquid blood must be kept and
transported with refrigeration but
the dried plasma can be handled
under adverse conditions, it was
pointed out. Too, Its use Is’extreme­
ly simple.
Nip-dTuck
By
1
BIBS
GOB
WILLIS
WNU Service )
Water Hyacinth Removal
In Bayous Costly to U. S.
NEW ORLEANS. — Water hya­
cinths, spreading with the speed of
tropical jungle growth, block more
Beat it, Nip! I'll take care of this
than 2,000 miles of Louisiana's guy.
swamps, bayous and inland water­
(Public Ledger—WNU Service.)
ways.
Government appropriation
for the job of clearing these floating
flower fields from the water was Windsor Household Aida
$180,000 for the year July 1, 1940,
By Forming a Pig Club
to July 1, 1941.
WINDSOR, ENGLAND.—Like oth­
After 42 years of fighting this wa­ er patriotic citizens, members of the
ter traffic hazard, victory is in sight. royal household at Windsor hava
formed a pig club- the 1000th to be
Dogs Sense Personn Afraid
registered with the National Pig
Why is it that dogs show a mys­ Breeders council.
terious hostility to persons who are
The scrap* from the castle are
afraid of them, no matter how per­ being put to a new use. They go
fectly such persons conceal their straight to the pigs.
fear? Students of animal lore claim
Each member of the club paid a
that a frightened human being gives subscription of $4 and among them
of! a fear scent, undetectable to hu­ they own 52 pigs.
man nostrils but having a peculiarly
maddening effect on dogs. Many ex­
Cheap Living
perts, including the late naturalist,
You can live comfortably in San­
William T. Hornaday, believed in tiago, Chile, for as little as $1.75 a
this theory.
day.
FRENCH WOMEN USE U. S. FLOUR SACKS FOR CLOTHING
VICHY, FRANCE —Two hundred
“One of our employees who was ployed women received the task of
thousand sacks that contained the in Marseilles when the Red Cross preparing and making useful things
United States gift of flour to the was distributing the American flour from the sacks.
people of unoccupied France have happened to remark the flour sacks
"By scraping and beating the
been
transformed
into
sheets, and to exclaim on the beautiful cot­ sacks after they had been emptied
aprons, bibs, dresses, shirts and un­ ton materia] of which they were by the Red Cross, these women were
derclothing for the children of made," she said. "The Red Cross able to recover 30 kilograms of flour
French unemployed.
official present said that if they from each 5,000 sacks. This flour
In an interview with the newspa­ could be turned to useful purposes was distributed among the most
per Journal a member of the un­ for the unemployed he would donate needy of the unemployed.
employment bureau told h/»w this them gladly. The gift was arranged
"In the endeavor to remove the
had come about.
and thousands of French unem­ trade marks and designs stamped |
on the sacks the women found that
part of the cloth turned to a pale
pink. This part has been used in
making underwear. The work on
all the articles is fine, and they are
serviceable.
"The string that tied the sacks
was sorted, combed and made into
yarn, and with it the unemployed
women have knitted more than
4,000 suits of rompers."