Image provided by: Morrow County Museum; Heppner, OR
About Heppner gazette-times. (Heppner, Or.) 1925-current | View Entire Issue (July 15, 1926)
HEPPNER GAZETTE TIMES, HEPPNER, OREGON, THURSDAY, JULY 15, 1926. PAGE TURK K JSI1 Southern States Welcome Successful Introduction of Great Food Fruit. BANANAS TO STOP BOLL WEEVIL GRIP After Seven Years of Search Dr. T. J. Harris Discovers Banana Seeds; To Replace Cotton In South. Written for. Heppner Gazette Times By A. A. HOOPINGARNER Through Autocaster Service. That old familiar strain, "Way down South in the land of cotton," some day will give way to "Way down South in the land of bananas," if the dreams of Dr. T. J. Harris come true. , Dr. Harris, discoverer of the banana seed, declares the day will come when bananas will be the chief crop of the southern tier of these United States. Already he has Introduced the ba nana seeds into Florida. There he cultivates the slippery skinned fruit on Melbourne Farms, the experiment station which he is conducting. Now he plans to plant his seeds in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi and Texas. La ter he will invade South Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky. "One acre of bananas yields a greet ed food supply than twenty acres of wheat," says Dr. Harris. "All I need is a temperate lone in which there 1b freedom from frost six months in the year." "I am not bringing these seeds to To Grow Bananas In South After seven vearg of intensive search and experimentation, Dr. T. J. Harris has discovered banana seeds and is now introducing their cultivation In the South. He plans to make this great food fruit profitable crop in Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Texas and later in South Carolina, Tennessee and Kentucky. Picture show Dr. Harril in his southern gardens. ' life to accomplish something freakish, but to grow this food plant or fruit." Dr. Harris is certain that great ba nana plantations can replace the cot ton fields of the South. Cotton crops are being eaten up by the boll weevil and other pests. "No, we wouldn't have too many ba nanas," says Dr. Harris. "The ba nana crops would go into the making of banana flour, which is as good as wheat flour." The banana plant gave up produc ing seeds ages ago and multiplies it self vegetatively, according to Dr. Harris. "It was necessary, therefore, if seed production were to be induced," he commented, "to subject the plants to conditions conducive to reproduction as opposed to the usual tropical con ditions which, of course, favor vege tation, the bananas being one of these fruits which develop whether pollin ated or not, and the more vigorously the plant grows the larger will be the bunch of fruit. This is contrary to what transpires in fruit orchards in the temperate zone. "The pistillae or female flowers are at the base of the bunch, which, when it assumes the usual inverted position places the staminate or pollen bear ing flowers below; these are found un der the braits of the tassel-like ap pendages. Then again, the male flow ers ' are not open until the female flowers of the same bunch are over and dead (one of Nature's devices to bring about cross-pollination.) But since the pollen grains are not wind borne, but are sticky and remain at tached to the anthers, there is no doubt that in prehistoric times, some insect or nectar sipping bird per formed the function of trans'erring the pollen from one bunch of fruit to tnothcr; this agency either became extinct or the plant failed to produce the attractive nectar." Dr. Harris successfully crossed the red banana with the commercial yel low from one of three large seeds de veloping near the flower end of the bananas experimented upon. The min ute black specks sometimes found in bananas are unfertilized ovules upon the central placenta; the fertile seeds are three-eights of an inch in diame ter. Dr. Harris has been hailed as the Luther Burbank of Great Britain. For seventeen years he was superinten dent of the British Government Ag ricultural Experiment and Teaching Stations in Jamaica and Bermuda. His creative work won him election as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and Industries of the British Empire. HOW THE POTATO LAW WORKS OUT (From State Market Agent) Before the day of potato grading and inspection in Oregon, a buyer in San Francisco would write that he wanted a car of good potatoes and he would describe the variety and qual ity and the shipper would have to use his judgment as to what the San Fran cisco man really wanted. The judg ment of the two might differ as to ap pearance, size and other features of the stock, and when the car arrived it would be rejected as not coming up to th stock ordered. Such rejections were all too frequent, especially when the market price was falling. But under he grading, stenciling and In spction laws we now have, such re jections will not stand. Now the San Francsico buyer simply wires for a car of spuds of the official grade want ed, and he gets that grade. For illus tration he wires for a car of U. S. No. 1 and the shipper sends him that grade, with an official certificate a tached, which guarantees that the contents of the car complies with the grade ordered in the contract for sale. And that certificate stands good in court. No Surplus Real Protection Apparently there Is little benefit in a tariff schedule on American prod ucts of which there is aifexportable surplus, but on a commodity of which we consume considerably more than we produce, an import duty directly benefits the producer. The yearly requirements for wool in the United States are for 600,000, 000 pounds, and approximately 60 of this is imported. In the year 1880 there was one sheep per capita, while today the number of sheep has de clined to four-tenths per person, while the consumption per capita now av erages five or six pounds, hence the amount of wool imported is gradually increasing. The first tariff was put on wool in 1816, since which time it has been changed 21 times, and twice during this period it was put on the free list. The last change was made by congress in 1922, when the duty on scoured wool of the better grades was fixed at from 24 to 31 cents per pound. Since so large an amount has to be .imported, the amount of duty has a very definite effect n the price that the American grower receives, and also to some extent on what the con sumer pays for the finished goods. Sell for 10c, Buy Back for 30c Many farmers sell their hogs for from ten to twelve cents per pound and then buy it back from the meat market for thirty cents. Where could a farmer make money faster than by butchering hogs a twenty cents per pound? But butchering is becoming a lost vocation with farmers, as is baking becoming a lost art with city housewives. Yet Some Farmers Burn Them A ton of wheat straw contains $4 worth of nitrogen when applied to the land; a ton of oat straw contains $4.80 worth and a ton of corn stalks is worth $6.40. CARD OF THANKS. We wish to thank the kind friends and neighbors who were so faithful in their ministrations during the sick ness and death of our father and grandfather, Gilbert Coats, and ask God's richest blessings upon them all. Mr. and Mrs. H. H. Coats, Mr. and Mrs. R. E. Coats, Dallas, Oregon. Theo. Anderson, who was getting loaded op with harvest supplies here on Friday, began his wheat harvest Monday. He thinks the crop wi.l be light but of excellent quality. Mine's In! Is Yours? TUM-A-LUM . LUMBER CO. Heppner, Lexington, Ion What a dog's life some poor old pipes lead! Poor old pipe! Looks like he's gone to the . dogs ! He was a good pipe, too. The pick of hundreds. . . But he's never had a chance.. All his life he's been abused. . . neglected. . . treated like a dog! It's no way to bring out the best that's in him. A good pipe must get good tobacco. . . it should get Granger Rough Cut. No other to bacco is so certain, to make the most of any pipe. For Granger is made solely for pipes. . . made of the finest pipe tobacco that grows. . . mel lowed by an old'time secret recipe that takes out all "bite" and "harshness" and makes Granger mild. . . spicy. . . and mellow ! Being "rough-cut" too, its large flakes burn slowly and smoke cool. It brings joy into the life of any pipe. Brings perfect pipe-satisfaction into the life of any smoker. o GRANGER Rough Cut The half-pound vacuum tin Is forty-five cents, the foil-pouch package, wrapper, is ten cents I1 llfeFr I Granger Rough Cut is made by the Liggett & Myers Tobacco Company V If you aren't equipped to save all your grain to save time, save money, save work, save worry, see us now regarding the prompt delivery to you of a "Holt" Combined Harvester. B. A. AMY The Dalles Oregon WIT REG. U,S. PAT. OFF.