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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (Feb. 13, 1958)
TWO MEDFORD (OREGON) Bumble Bees Said Harmed by Sprays; Pollinators Protected in This Area Bumble bees are now dis appearing In Oregon because of widespread use of chemi cal sprays, according to Dr. VT. P. Stephen, entomologist and bee specialist at Oregon State college. These large colorful bees were once among the state's leading crop pollinators, Ste phen said. Dr. Stephen said he has found bumble bees all but gone from intensive farming areas where sprays are used constantly to check destruc tive pests. Referring to this area, Clif ford B. Cordy, county horti culturist, said, "We have more native bees around now than we used to have. The types of sprays now being used gen erally kill only the bee who gets into them. He does not carry them back into the nests where other bees may be kill ed, Cordy explained. Phosphate Materials Dr. L. G. Gentner, ento mologist at the Southern Ore gon Experiment station, said sprays using organic phos phate materials are usually applied after the cover crops in the orchards blossom and o to seed. As little of the organic phosphate materials as possible, which are most injurious to bees, are used in the spraying programs, Gent ner said. These bumble bees do help with pollinating seed crops and are valuable in setting alfalfa seed, the entomologist said. Sprayers covering these crops try to do their spraying early in the morning and late in the evening when few. bees are flying. r Explaining the difference between the bumble bee and the honey bee, Gentner said the bumble bee is larger, the size of a thumbnail and cov ered with hair. Unlike the "smaller honey bees they live in nests in the ground. Their young are fed with pollen, in stead of stored-up honey. .Some Bees T According to Dr. Stephen, some bumble bees still remain along the, coast and in other sections of open land where their ground nests are not ex- L' posed to sprays. In those areas, they are particularly useful as pollinators of cran- -berries, blueberries, and red clover. They are more effec This Week's T I L 1 I I I 70-0 "I X ' i FAMILY OM ft . ft. 6- 1 "i Z Ki S.NOOK r-t '8'i TTlAI 0 ..: I JpeR it alU ILIA W W SA. t . I: - 12.12 fk 14. 20 2f IS4.20 io,2 i , i i I I . j J ft ' SPdl pLAN NO. 3 5Z& .J-j -1 IPlTfW.-..-..-..-.,----;---? 0 2 134. Sd FT. : By HIAWATHA ESTES ; The rugged shake roof and stone veneer of this 2134 ;square foot home makes it Tappear to have "grown" from lits natural setting. Hewn Ibeams protrude from the jgables and a unique design ;is incorporated on the garage door. The wide expanses of Iglass and functional interior plan mark this home as com pletely modern. ' Destined for popularity is the family room, with a big fireplace in one corner. On the opposite wall triple glass .doors slide open for easy transition, between indoors hd outdoors. A door also ppens to the patio from the iervice area, making it easy to serve meals outdoors when the weather is warm.. ZZThe outer service entrance I fc only a step from the rear I MAIL TRIBUNE tive than honey bees on red clover and blueberries and honey bees do not like the cool, wet conditions under which cranberries grow. While the decline of the bumble bee can't be helped or halted, it can be "lament ed," Stephen said, and every attempt made to check indis criminate spraying that use lessly kill off wild bees. Honey bees are protected by moving them in and out of spray areas, he noted. Technical Bulletin Stephen recently published a technical bulletin on bum ble bees of Western America and has been given a S9.500 grant by the National Science Foundation to continue work for another three years. He plans eventually to compile data on bumble bees of the world. The thing that makes some bumble bees particularly ef fective as pollinators is their long tongues, Stephen said. The three-jointed tongue is sometimes as long as the bee's body and twice as long as the tongue of the honey bee. Twenty-four species of bumble bees are found in Ore gon. Deserted mice nests are favorite homes for the bees and the big build-up in mice this year may mean more bumble bees next summer, New Booklet Ready On Tree Planting Corvallis Advantages of putting marginal cropland into forest plantings under the Soil Bank program are ex plained in a new booklet just published by Oregon State college extension service in cooperation with the Oregon state board of forestry and the U.S. forest service. Copies of the booklet, "Planting Trees Under Con servation Reserve," may be obtained from local county ex tension offices or the OSC bulletin clerk, Corvallis. t Deadline for putting land under a conservation reserve contract for 1958 is April 15, said Charles Ross, OSC farm forestry specialist. Ross co authored the booklet with Carl Hawkes, forest service forester. Town, Country House door of the garage, and the half -bath is handy to the work area, patio and play yard. An expanse of windows lights the big front living room. Book shelves are built in and double doors open to unite the living room and separate dining room for parties and social gatherings. Although the fireplace is shown in the family room, it could be relocated in the liv ing room during construction or, if you wished, fireplaces could be built in both of these rooms. ' A separate bath and dress ing room with double ward robes are part of the master bedroom suite. Twelve-foot wardrobes are welcome fea tures of both the other bed rooms. . Two water heaters supply the Thursday February 13, 1938 Stephen believes. All but new queen bumble bees die with the first frost each fall. The queen overwinters and builds the colony. Bumble bees vary greatly in behavior and color. Some a're vicious, others docile. Un like the honey bee, the bum ble bee can sting more than once. In Oregon, they are mostly yellow and black. Beef Balloting x To Gel Review Salem Mailed ballots in the beef commission referen dum are expected to pour into the state department of agri culture immediately' after Feb. 10, Director of Agricul ture Robert J. Steward said today. More than 4,000 pro ducers who registered prior to Jan. 21 are eligible to vote. To be counted, ballots must be postmarked to the depart ment at Salem by Feb. 24, or be deposited by that date in an official ballot box in the office of any Oregon county extension agent, he said. Because of the wide inter est and broad coverage of this referendum, and the heavy vote expected, Steward said arrangements have been made with two prominent Oregon ians to serve as a reviewing board for the ballots cast. One of these is David O'Hara, who retired last year after more than 40 years as head of the elections division for the state of Oregon. The other is E. R. Jackman, Ore gon State college range spe cialist for many years, with wide acquaintance throughout Oregon's cattle industry. All votes will be cast in sealed ballot envelopes which will be opened and tabulated only at the department head quarters in Salem, Steward said. The reviewing board will check all votes cast upon the close of the referendum period. NO CAN Beacon Falls, Conn (IP) A homeowner, tired of dogs for aging in his garbage can, pad locked the top. He reported later that a canine made off with the whole can. bathrooms and kitchen with plenty of instant hot water. Closets along the hall, a pan try, broom closet and storage rack in the double garage pro vide ample storage room. A forced air heater keeps this home at the desired tem perature the year around. The kitchen opens onto the dining room, family room, service area and hall. Yet, there is more than ample cab inet space, built-ins and an extra large breakfast nook has been provided. Complete working drawings of me aDove pian can oe ootainea at a cost of S7.50 for the first set and S5 for each additional set. when ordered at the same time. This plan will be available for a period of four months from this date. Please allow two weeks for delivery. If the above home does not entirely meet with your satisfaction, a new. home plan book. TOWN and COUNTRY HOMES mav be pur chaser for Si- Send all orders for either plans or books to: Hiawatha Estes. P. O. Box 404-T. Xorthridge, Calif. Joint Conference Slated For Heads Of Food Groups Salem At the suggestion of leaders of several of the commodity commissions in Oregon, Director Robert' J. Steward of the state depart ment of agriculture has called a joint meeting of all chair men and administrators for Tuesday, Feb. 18, in Salem. Steward said the commis sion administrators are select ing topics which will be dis cussed at this first joint ses sion, and are drawing up the agenda for the meeting. He said so far he has been ad vised by one of the larger commissions that it would like to see a discussion on four topics. ' J Public Relations Two of these are public re lations and tithing to the state. Another subject suggested by this administrator is the effect of the term "commission" as a name for commodity mar keting organizations. : There is a growing sentiment that this term does not clearly identify the commodity groups as being engaged completely in self-help programs for their respective industries. The fourth discussion topic suggested is the routine cleri cal and office services wnicn a 1 9.7 law authorizes the state department of agriculture to nrovide the smaller commis sions upon their request. Other topics will be offered for the agenda. Steward says' those who have suggested this joint ses sion are hopeful that if the Feb. 18 meeting proves a suc cess, the commodity groups may arrange to meet together once every three months on a continuing basis to discuss their mutual problems. Fryer Offices Set For Ag Building Salem Temporary offices for the Oregon Fryer commis sion will be with the State Department of Agriculture at the Agriculture building in Salem. At its Jan. 31 meet ing, the commission voted to take temporary advantage of a 1957 law that stipulates commodity commissions may utilize the facilities and ser vices of the state department of agriculture. A $55,000 budget for com mission? operations in the next 16 months was established at the same meeting. The bulk of the money will be spent on promotion, according to the chairman, B. J. Rogers of Springfield. In its first administrative order, the commission estab lished a March 1 assessment date and made a change in the original rate to differ entiate between live and dressed birds. Chairman Rogers indicated the commission would be in terested in hearing from can didates for executive secre tary before its next meeting in Salem on Feb. 20, although no final decision has been reached on the creation of a full-time position. Short Course in Insect Control Set Corvallis An intensive short course in damage, de tection, behavior and control of forest insects and diseases will be held March 19 to 21 at Oregon State college. The Northwest Forest Pest Action council and the OSC school of forestry are spon sors. The; three-day course will cover the Douglas fir beetle, silver fir beetles, mountain and western pine beetles, en gravers, wood borers, spruce budworm and other major de foliators, sucking and cone seed insects, root and heart decay, foliage and stem dis eases. Other topics will include surveys, general control meth ods, deterioration of killed timber, and general manage ment problems. Tonnage Said Higher In Fertilizer Sales Salem Oregon farmers used a little more fertilizer in 1957 than in any other year on state record. Tonnage fee reports made to the state department of ag riculture show 183,719 tons were sold, or 701 tons more than in 1956, the previous high year. GRAIN MOVEMENT Salem More than 9 per cent of 4.5 million bushels of wheat unloaded in Portland during January contained smut and more than 23 per cent contained foul dockage. This shows up in the monthly report of the state department of agriculture's division of grain inspection. Exports from Portland totaled 3.5 million bushels, mostly wheat, and were down from a year earlier. CHIT CHAT By JOI COWLEY Mail Tribune Farm Editor Effective use of commodity commissions to promote consumption of Oregon products by Oregonians and others, forms the big hope for both Oregon agriculture and addi tional community payrolls, indicated Bob Steward, director of Oregon's department of agriculture. An important meet ing will be held in Salem on Feb. 18 with the heads of all the commodity commissions, he told those attending the annual Jackson County Stockmen's association meeting in Central Point Tuesday. At this meeting the various com mission representatives will find out where they can agree and work together to develop a joint program. "We are letting other areas get the value of processing Oregon raw materials," Steward said. "This particularly applies to feeder cattle and lambs. During 1956 we sent out of the state 335,000 head of cattle. Major buyer of Oregon feeder stock was California at 100,000 head." Steward said he would like. to see the feeder operation retained here and the finished product shipped out. Oregon now has a surplus of forage and cereal crops which could be utilized, he pointed out. This state now produces and has available half the total meat products for its own popu lation, the agricultural director said. Steward said if the state can only "hang tough" the time will come when a large population will consume everything produced here. The period from 1945 to 1957 has registered a 27 per cent increase in population for the Pacific North west, he said. However, with this increase of population, there has been a 30 per cent decrease in dairy cattle, a 41 per cent cut-back in hogs and 21 per cent drop in the num ber of sheep raised. "Meanwhile, we have to tool up for expanding require ments of the increasing state population," Steward said. "Helping with this advance planning is Julius Jensen and his newly created state planning and development office." By June 30, 28 of a total of 36 Oregon counties will be certified brucellosis-free, according to Steward. By June 30, 1959, the whole state will be so certificated, he added. This Droeram has two main imais- . w B""" VVIlik WA UklU AQUA- cation of brucellosis, and (2) free movement of female cattle between counties and states, the secretarv of aprirnltiirn said. Ted Hyde. Of the Oresnn who is plugging for the beef commission, told us there is bound to be a switch in eastern Oregon in favor of the pro posed commission. So far from that area there has been loud-voiced opposition against the idea. Hyde said in any movement there is always a well-organized group of "agin ners". He said he believes beefland people are for the Hyde said the need for sale of beef is underlined bv ing to back up in the cold storage lockers. The present period of high beef prices could make the beefmen overly complacent, he added. Incidentally. Hvde sign on his brief-case. The large red and white sticker reads, Lamb's my meat." Ted explained that this was the only sticker he could get for promoting meat. It's up to the cattlemen to form a commission to put out other stickers, he said. Speaking of eating, we have long maintained the farmer and his family eat with better sense than city people. One thing they do, mainly because of the nature of their work, is to get up early enough to eat a good breakfast. The wife, Little Diminity, argues only in the "olden days" did the wife get up to fix her husband a good breakfast. Now, with both the wife and husband working, the husband gets up and does the cooking, she says. She may be right. But out of curiosity, we would like to know how you feel. Send us a post-card or letter addressed to this column and tell us whether or not a good breakfast prepared by the wife is or is not" necessary to the health and welfare of the family. If you go to the county courthouse looking for the ASC office you will find it moved to the third floor of the annex. A room has been especially arranged there. It used to be on the first floor of the main courthouse building not far from the county extension office. Don't forget Feb. 20 is the last day to sign up for the acreage reserve program. April 15 is the deadline for the conservation reserve sign-up. Those Duttine their Cattle On forpst ran? lanrie in tht area just missed eettinz an to an announcement by state Harold Brown told cattlemen at the Central Point meeting it was decided, to give the cattlemen another year before every animal on government' ranee is tatrsrprl to nmwont putting too many animals on not new ana nas Deen going understand. Siskiyou summit, over-grazing. . To ease this problem, some rehabilitation work" has been started. A small project is now underway in the Silver Fori basin, just down from Jackson gap. The idea now is to rotate cattle from one piece of range to the next. The rancher gets the forest range lands are protected. The only excellent sec tion of pasture now in this once lush grassland is a 20 acre meadow consisting of two grass tom meadows. The turfted hair- grass on it proves it is in excellent shape. The Jackson County Stockmen's association starts the year with a new slate of officers elected during the Tuesday meeting Burton Bradshaw, president; Armon Richter, vice president, , Don Nichols, treasurer, and County Extension Agent W. B. Tucker, secretary. A number of people have been plugging for a cooperative here along the lines of the Eugene Fruit Growers associa-j tion. A survey was made two years ago to see if there was enough acreage in fruits and vegetables to support such an industry. It was learned there was not. Now it is hoped with the coming of the Talent project and other similar projects for reclaiming land more acreage will be planted to fruits and vegetables to make such a co-op economically possible. Copies Mailed To More Than 2500 Meat Dealers Salem Copies of Oregon's standard of identity for ham burger have been mailed to more than 2500 licensed retail meat dealers throughout the state. The state department of agriculture will begin analyz ing hamburger" samples for composition immediately. The administrative order, signed by O. K. Beals, chief of the department's division of foods and dairies, weights and measures, gives labeling re quirements for ground beef or hamburger, plus the per mitted composition of the product. Retail meat dealers are or dering new labels to fill the requirements described in the order. He said, "The regula tions is now in effect and we are expecting compliance." In answer to questions re ceived by the department con cerning the order, Beals states: 1. Hamburger purchased by restaurants and other eating places must meet the composi Stntn Cattleman'. :ecnii;Ki commission. the ronnrt that hoof nm i .tort. ear - taseins? nrneram acenrilinff forest service officials here. that grass. This problem is on for 50 years or more, we particularly, shows signs of more beef from the grass and patches and is called Phan tion standard and the labeling requirements. 2. Any ground beef product must contain only the stand ard ingredients and should be labeled as either "hamburger" or "ground- beef". This in cludes ground beef molded into a particular shape and given a trade name. 3. Labels on hamburger packages should not be torji off at the point of sale; they are for the. consumer's infor mation. (This practice is fol lowed in some stores for ac counting purposes.) I is made entirely from a cer tain part of the beef carcass it is permissible to have addi tional information on the la bel. For example, "ground beef made from ground round" is legal; "lean ground beef" is not. The average American eats more than 160 pounds of meat a year. i fparm iJ" """" '"7"' ; ''"'l'' ' "S i irtii 1 1 fir a.MaijAt,l, A LOT OF BULL John Bohnert, standing at the halter, and Don Bradshaw post for this picture at the recent Red Bluff bull sale. This excellent animal was sold to Bob Fisher of Medford. The two men of Seven Oaks ranch in this area were among a large number of Jackson county people who attended the famous sale. This sale was used to bring prime bulls into the area. Over 110,000 Inspections Made By Foods Division Salem More than 110,000 inspections and tests for the protection of consumers, sell ers and buyers were made last year by the division of foods and dairies, weights and measures, state department of agriculture. This is shown in the annual statistical sum mary of O. K. Beals, division chief. Nearly 500 more inspec tions, or a total of 4,132, were made of dairy farms during 1957 than in 1956. Slight de creases show up in inspections of dairy distributors and man ufacturing plants due to fewer operators in this field. Nearly 2,000 samples of ice cream and other frozen des serts were tested, compared with 1,758 tests made in 1956. In spite of a decrease, of 26 in total number of fluid milk dairies, the 10,409 fluid milk samples analyzed in the de partment laboratories are an increase over a year ago. Pipeline Milker The impact of the farm milk tank and pipeline milk er on dairies shows up in few er sediment tests recorded in the last few years. Jn 1957, for example, the 21, 58 sedi Research Laboratories Set Up By Department Washington (IP) The Agriculture . Department has set up two special pioneering research laboratories, has ob tained charters for three more, and plans to establish addi tional units of basic research. These special groups, or ganized around outstanding scientists, are being establish ed in various divisions of the Agricultural Research Service (ARS). Their basic function is "to explore the scientific un known beyond the present limits of knowledge." The two special groups in full operation are the pioneer ing laboratory for mineral nutrition, in the soil and water conservation research divi sion, and the pioneering lab oratory for plant physiology, in the crops research divisions. Both are located at Beltsville, Md.t the department's re search center. Charters have been approv ed for three additional lab oratories, also at Beltsville. They are for blood antigen research, in the animal hus bandry research division, and for insect pathology and phy siology, in the entomology re search division. Pioneering research groups in a number of other ARS divisions still are in the planning stage. Two Experts Named Dr. Sterling B. Hendricks and Dr. Harry A. Borthwick already have been selected to conduct that research project now underway. Hendricks is chief chemist of the laboratory for mineral nutrition. He and his associ ates will work toward de veloping a better understand ing of processes related to the mineral nutrition of plants. At the outset, their research will involve studies of how plants accumulate inorganic ions and how these ions function inside plants. Brothwick is assigned to the laboratory " for plant, physio logy. He is the co-discoverer with Hendricks of the fact that light-sensitive pigments con trol flowering, seed germina tion, and other behavior of many plants that exhibit the phenomenon known as photo- BRILL METAL WORKS Commercial Industrial Residential Sheet Metal Work Stainless, Galvanized and Copper Fabrication 2287 West Main PHONE SP 2-4440 amid Gardeim ment tests of all milk and cream were less than 30 per cent of the checks necessary on this phase of milk quality control five years ago. In the weights and measures area, 25,620 packages of food stuffs were checked for ac curate weight 4,000 more than in 1956. Oregon's gas pump numbers continue to increase, as is re flected by the fact 1,000 more pumps were checked in 1957 than the year earlier. Weights and measures inspectors test ed 10,164 pumps for accuracy. Nearly 3,200 fuel oil meters were checked also a substan tial increase over the previous year's figure. Among food establishments at which sanitation inspec tions were made were: food markets, 144; meat markets, 476; locker plants, 908; bak eries, 648; processing plants, 16; carbonated bevera-ge plants, 145. The report shows a substan tial increase in the number of economic poisons sampled for laboratory analyses but a slight drop in inspections and sampling of feeds and fertilizers. periodism. He and his associ ates'" will seek clearer under standing of how plants are in fluenced by such factors in their environment as light, temperature, and chemical substances. Dr. Byron T. Shaw, ARS administrator, said the pio neering research units are to be established only in subject matter fields for which re search funds have been auth orized and in which it can be expected that new basic find ings will substantially ad vance agricultural science. Shaw emphasized that the new groups will do only a part of the basic research under taken, by ARS. The , regular research divisions will con tinue to plan and to carry out fundamental i n v estigations aimed at supplying new scientific facts and principles recognized as needed to solve euro " l3K (J Spray Men Get New Certificates Following Course Salem Certificates awarded to 45 of Oregon's licensed agricultural chemi cal applicators who attended the seventh annual short course Jan. 27-31 at Corvallis. Conference sponsors were the college and the state deDart- ment of agriculture. It is more desirable for farmers, home owners and for esters to follow a regular pro-. gram for controlling rodent rather than "spot" controls which are usually applied when it is too late, declared L. W. Kuhn. He is biologist with the fish and game depa ment, state experiment sta tion at use. Kuhn stressed that wooer timing and coverage of the complete area are two of the most important things to re member in rodent control. Dr. Ralph R. Sullivan., stata board of health, tolcf the group Oregon has a eoorT rec ord in use of agricultural pes ticides, as far as preventable incidents are concerned. Periodic Blood Tests He warned . "Don't dron your guard when using agri cultural pesticides." Applica tors who use organic phos phorus compounds consistent ly in spraying should hav periodic blood tests, he -warn ed, lne public health official also cautioned sprayers to be . extremely careful when using chemicals that fall into the chlorinated hydrocarbon group. George Moose of Salem, ragweed control supervisor for the state department of agriculture, reported nearly 4700 acres of ragweed-infested areas were treated during 1957. He added that the plan for 1958 includes educational work with farm and youth, groups during the winter. In the spring suspected areas of infestation will be surveyed, Moose added, and actual con trol work will probably start in late June or early July. At the Jan. 29 meeting of Ground Sprayers, Inc., Ted Glass of Eugene was appoint ed president and Ray Collier of Portland, vice president. Gordon Jones of Portland was elected to the board of direc tors. Oregon Farm Prices Show January Gain Corvallis Oregon f armeri started the new year with prices at the highest level since last April, according to Mrs. Elvera Horrell, extension agricultural economist at Ore gon State college. Prices received by farmers in the state rose nearly 2 per cent from mid-December to mid-January, Mrs. Horrell found in studying reports from the U.S. department of agriculture. As a result, prices now stand at the same level as a year ago. particular agricultural r e search problems.
