Is That So?
Wireless and shortwave op
erators have been having con
niptions this year: New York's
radio links with London, San
Francisco s with Tokyo, and
ships' operators at sea have been
blacked out sometimes for an
hour or more at a stretch.
How come?
It's all due to our sun which
has been tossing out storms
storms that make our greatest
cyclones and hurricanes seem
like the gentlest of zephyrs. The
sun's tempestuous outbursts are
accompanied by vast surges of
flames shooting 250,000 to 300
000 miles out into space that's
distance enough to wrap flames
around the equator 10 to 12
times:
This spring one huge ball of
gas, mostly hydrogen, some 20,
000 miles in diamater was hurl
ed into space at the incredible
speed of 3,500.000 miles an hour.
according to Dr. Donald H. Men
zel and his staff of the Sacre-
mento Peak Observatory, New
Mexico. This explosive eruption,
he added." equalled in violence
the simultaneous explosion of
about 100,000.000 H-bombs.
And how do these explosive
eruptions of our distant sun af
fect our radio signals millions
of miles away? Several hundred
miles above our earth there is a
layer of air called the ionos
phere. Under normal conditions,
radio signals bounce off this lay
er and reach their destination
within the instant, even thou
sands of miles away. But when
the sun has these super-colossal
explosions, it peppers this ionos
phere with ultraviolet rays and
the radio signals are absorbed
into it rather than bounced off.
Brilliant Heavenly Display
These ultraviolet rays shot
out by the sun during violent
eruptions, incidentally, create
some extremely beautiful north
ern lights, even in mid-summer
and the larger the solar dis
turbances the more brilliant the
heavenly display.
As for the cause of the sun's
disturbances, this is still shroud
ed in mystery, but as a guess
they may be due to shock waves
from the tremendous upsurges of
gases.
Want to have peaches, plums,
nectarines, cherries and apricots
in your backyard? With plenty
of space for 'all these trees and
the right climate that would not
be difficult.
But to grow them all on one
tree, that s difficult.
This s e e m i n g ly impossible
coup was brought about by Guy
Hobgood of Vista, Calif. Start
ing with an almond tree, Hob
good succeeded in grafting on it
a peach, three variations of
plums, French prunes and a
nectarine. But when he attempt
ed to graft a cherry and apricot
the tree balked, refusing to
harbor such totally foreign
fruits.
But Hobgood persisted and
outwitted the reluctant host by
grafting on the fourishing peach
limb a cherry, and on the necta
rine, an apricot. Both cherry and
apricot sprouted this summer.
So. Hobgood's almond tree may
well be entitled to the honor:
The Hostess with the Mostest!
Of our common house pets.
cats may well have the longest
life span. At least so says Brit
ish zoologist Alex Comfort of
the University College, London.
He states: 'The cat would ap
pear to be quite the longest
lived of the smaller domestic
animals, its maximum age just
under 30 years." This compares
with 20 years for terriers and
18 years for larqe hybrid rabbits,
he adds. Besides, old cats are
strikingly preserved, reports
Comfort. The oldest female tab
by in his records, 31 years old
was '"in kitten" at 26; and up to
the very end of their lives some
of the oldest Toms exercised
their romantic prerogatives.
Within the memory of man.
many of our world's areas now
denuded were heavily forested.
They include China, the land of
the Tigris and Lebanon, and
large areas in our Northern U.S.
In our beautiful west, pine and
fir forests are being cut down
faster than ever before. Yet,
happily with the difference that
present tree growth exceeds the
Bain To Insist on
Kefauver With Adlai
Portland 0J.R' Jack Bain, a
delegate to the Democratic na
tional convention, said today he
would insist that the Stevenson
committed Oregon delegation
work for nomination of Sen.
" Estes Kefauver as vice presi
dent. Kefauver recently threw his
support " for the presidential
nomination to Stevenson.
Bain said he talked to Kefau
ver i by telephone Wednesday
nisht. "He didn't say definitely,
but I certainly got the impres
sion that he would take, and
wants, the vice presidential
nomination." Bain said.
Oregonians voted for Adlai
Stevenson over Kefauver in the
May primary", thus pledging the
state's 16 delegates to support
him for the nomination.
r EUGENE BURNS
Ranger-Naturalist
i
high cutting rate by 32 per cent, j
At this writing, there are more i
than 28.000.000 acres of private- j
ly-owned land in our country t
committed to growing trees for
tomorrow's use. This favorable
balance, incidentally, has oncur
ed within the past 10 years.
(Copyright. 1956. by
Eugene Burns)
(Released by The
McClur Newspaper Syndicate)
CGuminiST CH I.ESt
BPOfiTE0LT MOVE
INTO NORTHEASTERN
BORDER AREA OF
BURva. ALONG SOOM'LE
FRONT FROM RuTAO
SOUTH TO UNlONG
FERRY PENETRATION
IS ESTIMATED UP TO
60 MILES DEEP IN SOME
PORTIONS OF VAGUELY
DEFINED BORDER AREA
CIINA
Free: By special arrangement
with the editors pf the Encyc
lopedia Americana, my panel of
judges will award each week to
the reader who sends me the
best true-life nature adventure,
the best nature observation, or
the best question on nature and
wildlife, a complete 30-volume
set of this world-famous refer
ence work in a handsome Seal
craft binding. Each week new
submissions will be considered.
Sorry, I simply can't answer
your many friendly letters.
Please adress your letter to: Is
That So! co Medford Mail Trib
une, Box 575, Sausalito. Calif.
m 1
DEFINED BORDER AREA , , j
PAKi.TAN J ) jn JijNiONG '
VI J I z
I
lit 01 t!NCl
Fairbain Appointed -Happy
Camp Constable
Yreka Fred Fairbain has
been appointed constable of
Happy Camp, Calif., by the Sis
kiyou County board of super
visors.
Residents of Happy Camp
were divided in their recom
mendations for a constable. One
group favored Fairbain and rec
ommended that the constable
and sheriff's deputy office be
combined at Happy Camp. An
t other group favored Herbert
I Young as constable and favored
maintaining separate offices for
the constable and deputy sheriff.
I Friday. August 10. 1956
MEDFORD (OREGON) MAIL TRIBUTES KIHK
RED MOVE ON BURMA BORDER Shaded area on
newsmap indicates where Communist Chinese troops
Tiave reportedly crossed the Nebulous border area
between China and Burma on an estimated 500 mile
front. World embassies mark time for confirming
reports on situation in the mountains, vaguely
mapped northeastern frontier region, long the sub
ject of dispute between the two countries.
Although nuts of the buck-
: eye Ohios State tree contain
poisonous toxics, Indians learn-
ed to make them edible by re
peated boiling.
SHADE TREES
Pick them out now while in full leaf,
you dig Them up in the fall and save
5 1 DO rn ech.
GARDEN CENTER NURSERY
Formerly Nrwhall's
i Mi. So. of Phoenix on Hi. 99
Phone 2-:fi0l
Flavor you'll never forget
l Petri
California
MUSCAT
PURE GRAPE WINE
PETRI WINE CO.. SAN FRANCISCO. C A 1 1 f .
Crater Beverage Company
USE TRIBUNE CLASSIFIED ADS!
m
Nothing takes to the road like a Chevy!
Once in a blue moon a car like this comes
along-a design so advanced in perform
ance, so beautifully balanced that it stands
out above every other car on the highway.
It has a solid, sure-footed way of going
that makes driving safer and more pleas
ant on any road. And you feel a very spe
cial sense of security in its rapid-fire re
sponsiveness to your touch on the wheel,
brakes and accelerator.
You can see that the '56 Chevy is a stand
out for style. But until you have driven
one you're missing the best part of the
news-the fact that Chevrolet is the smooth
est, solidest, most wedded-to-the-road auto
mobile you ever bossed. Try it and see.
America's
largest selling car
J 2 million more J
I owners than J
any other make!
If. V
' r'-
You gel more car when you buy il . . . more dollars ulien you, sell ill Clievy has the highest resale value of the leading low-priced models!
AIR CONDITIONING TEMPERATURES MADE TO ORDER AT NEW LOW COST. LET US DEMONSTRATE!
Only Jranchised Chevrolet dealers
The "Two-Ten" Sport Coupe with Body by Fisher one of 20 Chevrolet beouf'es.
display this famous trademark
Ninth
and
Bartlslt
irmm
Phone
2-6115
Medford