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
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GRANGER
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the foil-pouch package,
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I1 llfeFr I
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V
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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.