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About Medford mail tribune. (Medford, Or.) 1909-1989 | View Entire Issue (June 28, 1960)
0 MEDFORD MAIL TRIBUNE. MEDFORD, ORE. TUESDAY. JUNE 28. 1961 Sleeping Sickness Said Serious Horse Disease In the early days of the motor buggy, the luckless driver whose contraption hap pened to break down on the road, was advised, usually In loud and scornful tones, to "get a horse!" Today's autos are a good deal more reliable than they were in those days - but an increasing number of Orc gonians seem to be listening to that ' get a horse cry. A recent horse census sets the state's equine population at about 100,000 - up some 30, 000 from a census made in the fifties. The same is true In other western states where the horse count is rising not only because the west is tradition ally the stronghold of the horse but because more peo ple are using more horses for pleasure - racing, rodeos, shows, trail rides, etc. As the horse population in creases, so does the potential for various ailments of the horse. One of the most serious is equine encephalomyelitis, commonly called sleeping sickness or, less elegantly, "blind staggers." The disease is seen almost exclusively between June and November. It is characterized by a sud den onset with cerebral dam age and usually high mor tality. Sluggishness and drowsiness are early symp toms and as the disease prog resses the sick animal stands dejectedly, moves with an awkward staggering gait, stumbling blindly into ob structions in its path. Whinny ing and sensitiveness to the slightest touch are common. Virus Causes Disease Veterinarians discovered in 1031 that the disease is caused by a filterable virus. It is one of the many animal ailments which may also be transmit ted to man and outbreaks in humans have occurred in sev eral regions of the U.S. In the past it was thought that mosquitoes might be a carrier of the disease to horses. The role of the mos quito, however, has not been definitely established and evidence on this point is con flicting. Pheasants, pigeons and prairie chickens have been found naturally infected and can be a consistent reservoir of the virus. No specific antiviral agent is presently available for treatment, but horses can be effectively immunized with DON'T GAMBLE with your fruit profits PEARS should be protected from attack by mites. This job can now be turned over to an oxtrn-safe, easy-to-use miticide called Kelthane. Last year, many orchards had f ull-sciisnn control with only one application of Kelthane. An ideal time to clean out a mite potential is in the first cover spray. To clean out the tops of trees where spray ri(.rs may not ivc Rood coverage, a Kelthane 3 percent dust is ctVeclive. You'll like the safety and long-residual action of Kelthane . . . plus its ability to control all species of mites which attack pears with a minimum number of applications. Ask your supplier for Kelthane now. KtLTHAM tf tni(imttti, Rtf. L'S It KELTHANE an intradermal vaccine; two doses, seven to ten days apart are preferable. Control measures may in clude every practical measure to keep animals from exposure to mosquitoes including drain age of swamps, spraying of ponds and lakes, screens on stables and periodic spraying with repellents and insecti cides such as DDT. Annual vaccinations arc also recommended in those areas where the disease is prevalent. (This article is prepared as a public service by the Ore gon Veterinary Medical Assn, Questions on this and other subjects of general interest relating to animal health will be answered in this column. Please address inquiries to farm editor, Mail Tribune.) Seed Certification Now Available By EUGENE WINTERS County Agent Seed certification applica tion forms will be mailed soon to all known alfalfa seed growers having stands eligible to produce certified class or better seed. Completed application forms should be returned to the County Extension Office by July 5. Field inspections will begin about the middle of July by one of the Ex tension Seed Certification Specialists from Oregon State college. Last week alfalfa seedling inspections requested were) compicica. nu ancud tumia seeded this spring for certified seed production are required to have a seedling inspection to meet the requirements of the seed certification stand ards. Certified alfalfa seed grow ers not receiving seed certi fication application forms or having new seedlings to be inspected should contact the Jackson County Extension of fice within the next few days. Estimated production, ex cluding melons, is 6 per cent below last year while melon production is 2 per cent above 1959. Major crops with sub stantially smaller production than last year are tomatoes, lettuce, cantaloupes, onions, cabbage, and broccoli. ChtmicaU or Agrituttnrt ROHM HAAS COMPANY WASHINGTON 1QUAKE. PHIttDllrHI J, tK - OJ ami in pnnOpQt firttf tovntrit. -CHIT CHAT- By JOt COWLEY Mill Tribune Firm Editor "The whole problem is this the American people just don't know how to appreciate good food," a local dairyman told us. "What I mean is people just don't know what is highest quality food. That's the whole problem with American agri culture," this dairyman told us during the dairyman's month June dairy month. We wonder if this isn't true? We have heard the same complaint from dairymen, a small town baker, a fruit and vegetable stand operator and from poultrymen. The key seems to be public education. The public has to be taught that it pays to buy and eat the best foods. But to continue on our little survey "I used to sell a lot of my home-made style bread, but the housewife wanted something which would keep longer and was a little cheaper. The good homemade type of bread soon dries out. Take cake, for instance, it seems to pay to cut down some on the ingredients and make it up by piling a lot of goopy frosting on top." Have you ever had a thick slab of homemade bread with sweet, golden butter fresh from the churn? We have. You can't beat it for taste and the satisfying solid feeling it leaves in your stomach afterwards. Or, how about creamy milk, fresh and cold from the spring house? A dairyman friend of ours likes good hot milk with sugar added for a stimulating drink when he wants something to drink around the barn. He draws the milk fresh from the cow off his pipeline, heats it and adds a teaspoon of sugar. When was the last time you had a couple of good eggs sizzling in the frying pan or a nice softboiled egg sprinkled with salt and pepper? A good egg is the kind whose shell isn't so thin its splinters all to bits if you give it a good clean, sharp crack on the edge of, the frying pan or bowl. The yoke, even when softboiled, stays firm, round and a good orange-yellow color. And a fruit stand operator tells us that people just don't appreciate top quality vegetables and fruit. Just recently he had lettuce fresh from the field with the juice still seep ing out of it. People didn't recognize this as a sign of freshness and wouldn't buy it. Yet when he sold "some trash" with the rotting leaves cut away and at a much cheaper price the people went for it. Once again price not quality seems to be the determing factor. TMs man had strnwborrieg good c,uanty and five boxes for the price to sell the same high off. However, he got some berries of poor quality and was able to drop his price back to five boxes for $1. He was sold out in two hours. Another example people will buy a No. 2 watermelon for 50 cents rather than a No. 1 at 80 cents. The No. 2 weighs 13 pounds and the No. 1 16 pounds and of higher quality. The difference is about 1 V2 cents per pound, which, when you consider the size and quality doesn't really pay you to buy the lower grade. And, this may surprise you this fruit and produce man freights fruit and produce from California and sells it for a lower price than it is sold there. Bananas will sell for 17 cents a pound around Fresno,- Calif. Here he sells it for 2 pounds for 35 cents. Yet, he must add $3 per 100 pounds to his cost in freight chrges. "People just won't pay those higher prices for fruits and vegetables here," he commented. "Yet they will pay much higher rents and higher prices for many other re tail goods than any place else on the coast and they seem willing to work for much lower wages, here, too." As you can tell, our friend is getting mighty discouraged with business conditions here. He and his wife and two boys altogether net only from $80 to $90 a week here work ing 13 hour days. In northern California he has been offered $200 a week to head a large produce section of a market. "High as they are California taxes or better living condi tions here can't make up the difference in take home pay," he pointed out. When we dropped In to buy some of those wonderful Bing cherries raised by a very few growers in the Rogue valley, he waved his arm excitedly at the newspaper we had and said, "Say did you see that story about the apricot crisis down south? Boy, 1 tell you the fruit business has gone to h this year!" "Why the picker situation is something awful! My brother and another fellow own a 50 acre apricot orchard down in California. They hired two men to pick. That's all they could get. And you know what they picked? Forty pounds in two hours between them. Why a good picker should oughta pick 200 pounds or five boxes an hour!" "Boy, the employment situation is somethin' awful! It sure is! I drove down past the U. S. Employment Service and the men were lined up for two blocks to draw their unemployment checks! My brother-in-law said it wasn't worthwhile trying to pick the cots at this rate. It would cost him $125 a ton to pick them and the cannery would only give 'em $120 a ton if it was open! He decided just to close the gate and turn the water in on 'cm!" This sounds mighty like some peargrowers I know. The fruit stand operator was referring to the story out of San Francisco date-lined Friday, June 24. It said, "Faced with millions of dollars In crop losses by next week, apricot grow ers called on both cannery operators and the Teamsters union yesterday to return to work on an interim basis." The appeal was made by the California Farm Bureau Federation president as the strike entered its seventh day. The Job affected some 60 Northern California cannrics. Cali fornia has an estimated $10 Friday losses were reported by ranchers in the Winters area of Yolo county, where apricots ripen several weeks early. "Stnte Department of Agriculture spokesmen said a wind storm Monday dropped a large portion of the Winters crop to the ground. The Council of California Growers estimated losses already amount to $1 million." The packing houses or canneries here didn't close, but otherwise it sounds similar to what happened in the Rogue valley last pear harvest season doesn't it? What happened there. Teamster cannery workers, about 60.000 went on strike June 16 at the peak of the canning sea son. The union had stood pat on demands for a 25-ccnt an hour wage increase and fringe benefit Improvements. Em ployers have offered a 4 per cent package increase. Note' At his writing, a San Francisco newspaper an nounced (hat the strike by some 60,000 cannery workers was settled early Sunday after a 17-hour bargaining session. The strike threatened northern California's $10 million apricot crop. Cannery workers were expected to return to work today. Elected New Head 01 4-H Foundation Corvullis - Marion T. Wea thcrfnrd of Arlington has been elected president of the 'Oregon 4-H Club Foundation. A prominent Eastern Oregon rancher, Wcatherford has long been active in educational ) programs for young people in the state. He succeeds R. L. Clark. Portland, member ol the of high qualUy for sale of $1. Later on he had to raise quality. His sales dropped million crop this year, As of board of trustees of the foun dation. Elected vice president at the organizational meeting in Portland was Herman Oliver, John Day. L. B. Stavcr, U.S. National Bank, Portland, was named treasurer; and Burton Hutton. State 4-H club lead er, Oregon State college, was elected secretary. Reseeded Lands In Ashland Burn Producing Grass The big problem now in the reseeded private lands of the Ashland burn is need for fencing so it can be properly grazed in the near future, according to Harry Martin, ASC office manager. The Jackson county agricul tural conservation and stabili zation committee worked with County Agents Eugene Win ters and Earle Jossy to seed 939 acres owned by 15 land owners. The grass is now 8 to 12 inches high. It was in spected in May by the two county agents and last week by William Mulkey, of the state ASC office. The fire which crackled through brush and trees in the Ashland area last August act ually did the landowners a favor. It destroyed consider able brush and some trees which made it possible to seed the 939 acres to grass. Now it will provide cattle feed and prevent erosioi. in a sec tion which showed a number of gullies. Permission Obtained To seed this land under the agricultural conservation program, permission for the special practices project had to be obtained from the Wash ington, D.C. headquarters of ASC through the state office. Then the two county agents worked out a careful seeding program. Grass -varieties had to be found which would de velop the best pasture in the soil type of the area. Then Bill Rosenbaum sprayed the seed over the soil from his chartered air plane. The 10,330 pounds in cluded a mixture of timothy, perennial rye grass and sub clover. The land was seeded in three parts - first 467 acres, a second 467 acres and the last piece of 160 acres. Seeding started in September and fin ished in October. Total cost was $3.55 per acre with the federal govern ment paying $2.84 an acre on a cost share basis. Since this was a special practices project the government paid 80 per cent. The landowners are Gail S. Brewer, McKenzie McCul lough, Betabelle Carter, G. H. Billings, James Delsman, W, H. Kneebone, H. T. Haber man, A. L. Knight, Pearl R. Crouch, Glen P. Kelts, George H. and Jule Erickson, E. C. Preston estate, A. M. and A. Brook, Don E. Hunter and L. H. Johnson. Slaughter Cattle Require Back Tag Identification Salem - The state depart ment of agriculture announc ed today that by mid -July blood sampling of all eligible cattle sold to slaughterers in Oregon and of all eligible cattle sold for slaughter out of the state will be put into effect. At that time, a new system of identifying cattle sold through auction yards in Ore gon will be inaugurated. Un der this, all auction yards will use coded tags, orange in col or. The only thing which might hold up the mid-July target date to start the pro gram would be delay in re ceiving the new orange tags from the manufacturer. The new tag will serve a dual purpose. The symbol on it will identify the auction yard; through brand inspec tion, the tag will also identify the owner of the animal and the county of origin. The new tags will be applied at the auction yard and will replace the present hip tag which identified only the individual animal. Construction Equipment FOR RENT! Draglines Shovels Cranes Turnapull Tractors with Dozer Blades or Scraper lininger's SP 3-7555 MU 5-8121 NO 4.1217 i c 1 f 1 I - t . I y X. 1 I . I -A 7 v , .-V ' . J 'ft v DIANE MANSON Josephine Dairy Princess Josephine Dairy Princess Visits Vivacious 20-year-old Diane Manson, Grants Pass, is a dairy princess who not only promotes dairy products with a winning smile, but knows how to hand-milk a cow. She should! This Josephine county dairy princess had a dairy 4-H project for about six years, she said. Her Guern sey cow was grand champion for five years straight at the Josephine county fair. She was grand champion show man at the same fair. Although she does not now live on a farm her parents did have one. Her father is contract milk hauler for Southern Oregon Milk Pro ducers association through which the southern Oregon Grade A dairymen ship their milk. Among her other accom plishments, Miss Manson was graduated from Grants Pass High school in 1958. She is also Cave Queen in Grants Pass. When she isn't a prin cess or queen of this or that the charming brunette works at the Grants Pass branch of the First National Bank of Oregon. Jackson county did not have a June Dairy Month princess for this year so Miss Manson included this county in her busy itinery. She ap peared recently at the cook ing school, or Foodarama, at the Craterian theater in Med ford, an event sponsored by KYJC radio station. Miss Manson meets all qualifications for a dairy princess: poise, speaking abil ity, natural beauty and prop er weight to height ratio -especially the latter. She is a living breathing example that consuming dairy prod ucts does not put on weight. Oregon Really Top Lily State Salem - Once an Oregon booster, always one. At least that's the way it is with C. G. Anderson, for mer Oregon department of agriculture man now living in Proctor, Minn. In the Oregon work An derson became familiar with the Easter lily industry here So it was too much for him when a Minnesota nursery, man, quoted in a feature ar ticle on Easter lilies in a Min nesota daily, credited the s t at e of Washington with growing "practically all the lily bulbs." Anderson sent a copy of the article to J. S. Wieman, superintendent of the bureau of nursery service, state de partment of agriculture. "We're glad to see Wash ington mentioned -- but of course Oregon has a consid erably larger lily acreage," comments Wieman. The Oregon department fig ures Easter lily acreage in this state at 250 acres, which is way ahead of second place California. Add the acreage of lilies of garden varieties, and Oregon shoots up to about 450 acres of all lilies. Wheel Trenchers Road Roller. 7 Graders Back Hoes Farmland Values Continue Upward Climb in Spring Corvallis - Oregon farm land values continued to move upward this spring to a level nearly 5 per cent above a year ago, reports Mrs. Elvera Hor rell, extension agricultural economist at Oregon State college. On March 1 of this year, the per-acre value of farm lands in the state, with im- Label, Grade Regulations Now Apply to Turkeys Salem-Beginning July 11, the state department of agri culture will start statewide checks on all whole turkeys sold in Oregon for compli ance with grade labeling. This announcement by Dr. M. L. Houston, supervisor of meat inspection, follows state adoption of turkey grade and labeling regulations under the turkey law. "Advance warning of regu lar checks on turkey grades and labels is issued to give all concerned an opportunity to clear their shelves of any unlabeled birds," Dr. Hous ton explains. The Oregon turkey grades follow rather closely those established by the federal gov ernment. The top quality birds will draw the A grade label, with B and C grades also wholesome birds. Under the turkey law and regulations, only birds of A, B, or C grades may be sold, exposed, displayed or offered for sale in Oregon. Grading may be done by any official agency. Grading performed by the state meat inspection service will be on a full cost basis to the individual or firm requesting the service and graders will be paid by the department. All ready-to-cook turkeys sold in Oregon must be grade labeled and those state in spected must also show on the label the true name, the name and address of the packer or distributor, the net weight, the plant number where inspected. The only exceptions from turkey grades and labels are: 1. A farmer may sell, dis play, expose or offer for sale ungraded and unlabeled tur keys if the sale is made direct to consumers. 2. Turkeys may be sold or fruit growers let's talk insecticide economy! Get more for your spray dollar with CONTROLS MOST MAJOR PESTS attacking apples, pears, peaches, ; plums, prunes, apricots, and other ' fruit crops. SIMPLIFIES SPRAY SCHEDULES Provides outstanding control of cod ling moths, aphids, scale crawlers, pear psylla, cherry fruit flies, mites and other insects. GIVES LONGER PROTECTION Residual action provides longer crop protection. Can be applied relatively close to harvest. CONTROLS RESISTANT STRAINS Controls even "problem" Insects including strains resistant to chlo rinated insecticides. KEEPS MITES BOWK A regular DIAZINON insecticide spray program keeps mites under control DIAZINON insecticides r affective, relatively tele photphet Insecticides. Get more tor your spray doner Order DIA2INON insecticides todey from yc-or supplier. provements, stood 2 per cent higher than last November and nearly 5 per cent above March 1959, Mrs. Horrell found as she studied reports from the USDA agricultural research service. Grazing land values increas ed the most during the year, registering an 8 per cent jump, - Mrs. Horrell noted. Irrigated land in the state was up 5 percent and dry farmland up 3 per cent. Rate of farm sales stayed about the same as the pre vious year, Mrs. Horrell said. About 67 out of each 1000 farms in the state changed hands. Voluntary, sales and trades made up about 52 of these, foreclosures 5, and oth er sales 10. Total Market Value Total market value of farm real estate in Oregon is now estimated at around $2 bil lion, Mrs. Horrell also found. This is close to $100 million over the previous year, for an increase of about 5 per cent. Average value per acre of this farmland was estimated at $97.64. And while this was an increase over the previous year, the average value of farmlands in Oregon is still below the estimated national value per acre. Nationally, farmland values increased only 3 per cent last year, in contrast to advances of 6 to 8 per cent yearly dur ing the 1956-58 period. Al though all regions reported smaller increases, the slow down was most pronounced in the Corn Belt, Lake States, and Northern Plains. What's ahead? Many of those engaged in handling farm real estate over the na tion look for a further slow down in the rate of increase in farmland values. Those re porting from the eastern and western Corn Belt 1 Kk for the greatest slowdown, with the cotton and California specialty crops area most op timistic for larger increases. Keep cows away from new pastures for two hours before milking. Weeds in early pas tures may result in an objec tionable flavor in the milk. hauled to a cannery, proces sing or similar business and not be subjected to the grad ing and labeling requirement unless they are thereafter sold for human consumption as an uncooked or unproces sed whole turkey. a M oioitos of dot msecnciots GEIQY AGRICULTURAL CHEMICALS Division of Btigy Chtmcil Corpertvon Sew Mill River Road, Ardsley, N.Y. Vets' Group Gives Official Support 1 To Salem Shift Portland - The executive board of the Oregon Veteri nary Medical association, meeting in Portland, June 20, gave enthusiastic endorsement to the recently announced re organization in the diseasa control and meat inspection programs of the state depart ment of agriculture. r Stressing the public health, and public protection bene fits of the changes, the OVMA board predicted that the move would lead to better adminis tration of both meat inspec tion and disease control activi ties in the department. The shift, announced by James Short, state director of agriculture, places the state veterinarian's office directly under the supervision of the agricultural director rather than the division of animal in dustry. "T h e veterinary profes sion," said Dr. Roy Peterson, Tillamook, OVMA president, "pledges its wholehearted sup port in helping to make this new program work in the best interests of the livestock in dustry and the general public. Oregon now joins 44 other states in adopting this prog ressive pattern of administra tion. "We feel confident that the supervision of meat inspec tion and disease control by those qualified to understand and administer the scientific and technical details of these programs can only result in greater protection of the pub lic health." Reductions are partly off set by increases in such im portant crops as watermelons; green peppers, sweet corn; and snap beans. Expected strawberry production is 7 per cent smaller than last year. Seed Growers . . . for LYGUS BUG CONTROL CALL RAYS PRAY SP 2-9279 . INSECTICIDE LI o o o, 0 0
