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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Brussels Post, 1949-8-17, Page 3Can The Octans Be "Farmed"? Repeated warnings from men whose Job it is to kiov the world food situation state that in 10 years we shall be eating even less than we are now unless new ways of growing food in bulk are discovered. The modern farmer with his in- tensive cultivation—it has to be in- tensive, otherwise half the world's population would die of starvation -- annually harvests crops from his soil by replacing the precious min- erals he takes out with artificial fertilizer. But those minerals can be, and usually are, used up much more rapidly than the farmer or the sci- entist can put then back. They are duained away by over -cropping, stolen by erosion, washed out by the rains, The result is shown in crops of poorer quality as the years go by. In some countries the soil over many thousands of acres becomes so "played out" that few plants can thrive on it. The wind and the rain sweep it away, and vast areas be- come "dust bowls." As the population of the• world expands, more food has to be grown, and even more revitalizing chemicals are needed for the sail. But there is a limit to the soil avail- able on the surface of the earth, even if the results of over -cropping and erosion are ignored. Alnd so we are forced to lend an ear to those scientists who declare' that we should not merely fish. the oceans, but farm themes well. They say that there are millions of acres producing heavy crops of marine plants rich in minerals on sub- merged lands along the coastlines. An American • woman scientist, Dr. Josephine • Tilden, has made some remarkable statements con- cerning these marine plants. She has identified approximately 2,500 species of "marine algae" as they are called, and all of them are said to be from 10 to 20 times richer fn minerals than land -grown food plants. It is estimated that oil ex- . ,tracted from some of them contains a thousand times more vitamins A and B than cod liver oil, Iodine, bromine and potassium salts are much more abundant in marine al- gae bhan un land plants. Why do these salt water growths contain so many more life-giving minerals, vitamins and salts than those we cultivate on the land? Because they grow in underwater "soil" which is rich with soluble materials washed away from the land, Rivers are constantly taking these materials away from our land soils and depositing them on the sea bed. Sea plants thrive on them, but since these plants are not har- vested and taken away, the ele- ments remain where they are when the plants die. Thus the reserve of under -water minerals, vitamins and salts is constantly being built up. There would be no need for fer- tilizers or soil correctives if we. farmed the sea bed. There would be no insect or plant disease to take toll of the crops. One species of sea -water growth already farmed in eastern countries is agar -agar, described as the world's most perfect food for wom- en who wish to retain their figures! It is a sweet and jelly-like substance which forms the walls of the agar - agar plant, nutritious, but not fat- tening. It has a variety of other uses, too—as a medium for bacteria cul- ture, for clarifying beer, making jelly and ice cream, and for sizing cloth, In Japan, certain species of sea plants are consumed not only in the raw state, but are also made into nourishing soups and stews, jams and other sweet confections. The great age and vitality of many Jap- anese peasants is attributed to their regular diet of seaweed food. The wealth of foodstuffs in the seven seas suggests that "naricul- ture" may become as important as agriculture and reduce the threat of a world food shortage. Under -water harvesting machines, operated from the surface, have already been used in the United States. Dehydrated sea vegetables in tab- let or powdered form have been offered for sale in the shops, but no real attempt has been made to market them on a big scale in a suitable form for cooking. More at- tention has been paid by research workers to the use of seaweed for the making of fabrics, paper, plas- tics, ice Dream, liniments, paints and explosives, Its use as food for mankind, how- ever, Is destined to loom ever larger in their future experiments. "Oh, I'll be okay It's just that I've had alt awful rem of choco- late bars and bananas today!" ri"9,e tici;hr s'rb / vup, 't Car Washing At Home Made Easy—A new, easy -to -apply car washing device now marketed in Canada means motorists can clo •a professional washob on their car for only a few cents. The instrument used. is a sample, atop -like potich,containing a special detergent that cuts road film, dust and car grease all in one operation. Attached to a long aluminum handle, with coupling for a garden hose, it can be used without danger of spoiling clothes. Actual washing action is simple and quick. Water runs through the mophead, dissolving the detergent and washing the car. When the detergent is exhausted the flow of clean water both rinses and .polishes.the car's finish. Other uses for the E -ZEE washer are numerous; windows, walls, cellars, ceilings, boats, porches, garge floors 'and many other places can be washed easily and inexpensively with this new money and time saving device. This has been such a peculiar season that I don't really know if the following advice, in regard to pre -harvest spraying of apples, is going to reach you in time to be any good. However, here it is for what it's worth: *. * * To anyone whose apple crop is really important, the experts say, pre -harvest sprays should prove highly valuable. It has been proved that such treatment prevents a large percentage of premature dropping 'of the fruit before it has reached proper maturity and coloring. * *. * To put it another way, pre - harvest spraying reduces the num- ber of windfalls, and lengthens your .picking season by holding the apples on the trees until they can be handled properly. * * * Dowat in New Brunswick the Do- minion Government Experimental Station made a test, using a naph- thalene acetic -acid preparation called parrnone, on McIntosh ap- ples and other varieties. The details regarding the test are rather in- teresting, * s First of all, 12' McIntosh trees Were selected all the same height and size. Six' of them were treated. The other half dozen were left un- treated. Then, beginning the day after treatment and continuing for another 25 days, the windfalls were . picked up and counted from under both the treated and untreated trees, * *, .Figured on a basis of the per- centage of the total crop that fell ori, it became clear to the experi- menters that the spraying began to exert a real influence on the fifth day after treatment and remained affective up to and including the 18th day. q, 1, 4, (That was the over-all picture, as the rapidity with which the ma- terial became effective varied con- siderably, ranging from two to eight days, and the length of time it re- mained effective also varied — from 14 to 25 days, depending on the individual tree. I imagine that over, in Russia they have apple trees that always behave costly alike, but over here they haven't yet reached such perfection. Maybe we should start reading ICarl Marx to then,) * * s: To get on with my apple -knock• ing, these pre -harvest sprays have also been used successfully on such varieties as Crimson Beauty, Melba, Keetoslt and Linton, Applied ea soon as a few apples began to fall, it definitely reduced the number of windfalls, thereby improving the size, color and quality of the crop. TIte effect was so pronounced on some very early varieties that some of the Apples becatne over -mature and cracked open instead of falling. * * * Trees of the early kind that have been sprayed should be picked be- fore the apples reach the "crack - open" stage — and one applications of the spray appears to be sufficient. With Out McIntosh, which is con- siderably more uncertain, the ex- ports think there might be a benefit from applying two sprays, one week apart. There are a number of different products available for this purpose and their use should reduce some of the worry connected with the harvesting of a high-grade crop of fruit. But don't forget this: No mat- ter what product you use, be sure to follow the manufacturers' direc- tions closely, and don't try any guesswork. •* * * Which sthould be about enough for one session — except for this: The best "drought" story we've heard is the one about the chap who stood with a bunch of friends, all of whom were bemoaning what the dry spell was doing to thein. After listening to them for a little while, he said, "Heck, you guys don't know anything. If we don't get rain soon, every weed in my garden is going to be ruined." Postman's Loss— Rose Marie Couch, who short weeks ago was an unnoticed mail girl at Universal -International Studios ,in Hollywood, has forsaken the snails to please the males. Rose Marie may soon be opening fan letters of her own for her first screen performance int"The Kid From Texas.' Directly above the letter slots in the Hastings, Neb., post office are placards with: "Have yott mailed your wife's letter?" Smiling Loser By Richard Hill Wlnkineoa Kirby found the girl seated on an upturned box behind the station crying. Ile hesitated, feeling awk- ward, then said: "Hello, Anything wrong?" , She looked up quickly, apprais- ingly, "No, please go away." Instead, Kirby squatted on his heels, "You must have lost some money on that last race, Black Fox fooled every one by not coining in. I lost too." "T suppose I'm a baby to cry, but 1 couldn't' help it. 1—we — father and I staked everything on Black Fox. Then that terrible I'm- a-Runnin,' who nobody 'thought had a chance, had to win," She hestitated, dabbing at her eyes. He seemed like a nice young man, And she did so want com- pany and to talk , He discovered her' name was Polly Hayden. •The- next day he called at her' house and met her father, a jolly faced old gentleman with white walrus moustaches. "We really shouldn't feel so badly Polly told her father after the introductions were over. "Kirb lost a lot more than we and he isn't conmplaining at all." That night Polly and Kirby had dinner at a little inn out on the Tamiami trail. He knew she was wondering when and how he was going to pay his racing debts, and where he was going to get the .money to establish himself in the law business. You just can't hang out a shingle in Miami and expect business at once. But he didn't offer the informa- tion. The next day he hired an office on Elegies street, then called up Col. Stratton and asked that racing enthusiast to meet him at Hialeah. "Colonel," he said over a sand- wich and coffee an hour later, "I'm going to take you up on the offer you made me for I'm-a-Runnin'. The colonel stared. "Now wait a minute, Kirby. Has the horse died or broken a leg or something?" "Nothing of the sort," Kirby laughed, "I'm quitting racing for good. It's no business for an ener- getic young lawyer to be wasting his time at I hired an office thio morning," They went out to the stables and looked at I'm-a-Runnin'. The col- onel couldn't understand it, but he wrote his check for $50,000 and the papers were passed, Conscious of a queer sensation in the pit of his stomach, Kirby headed back for the stables for a last farewell. Outside I'm-a-Runnin's stall he stopped dead still at sight of Polly Hayden talking with his stable boy. Her eyes blazed at him, "Sol The good loser. The, man who can lose everything, who will have to spend the rest of his life paying One View Of Britain's Problem Britain's present grave economic emergency ie providing a brilliantly clear X-ray picture of what's wrong not only with Socialism, but what's wrong with so slush of today's thinking about the how of curing the world's ills, says The Financial Post. This is not to imply that Britain's malignancy would have been avoid- ed or cured overnight had some- thing•other theta a Socialist govern- ment been in power. What we are now seeing in Britain are the fruits of a half century of missionfzing for a flabby utopianism and a' political pandering of votes for which all parties must share some responsi- bility. As an 'illustration, Canadians need remember no further back bhan our own elections of last month. In that election, Liberals promised the adoption or extension of many pol- icies which were fathered and moth- ered by Socialist gospels and prac- tice, and the Conservatives prom- ised chiefly to give us more of these measures than the Liberals, Britain's fundamental difficulty today is, in its simplest, starkest form, the unwillingness of her people to work hard enough. The , Socialists find they have been un- able to repeal the laws of human nature. As Whaley -Eaton, of Wash- ington, says: "It Is Socialism that has broken down, with Britain as the prime example, and only American stoney until now has pre- yented recognition of the fact." his racing debts and still smile, Olt, what a fool I've beenl" "Wait a minutes Listenl" He caught at her arta but she jerked away. He followed her out to her car, "You've got to listen," he said desperately, getting in beside her, "I only did it because I thought it would make you feel better. And it worked, 1 meant it when I said T was through with racing. I've sold I'm-a-Runnin' to Colonel Strat- ton. Look!" He held out the bill of sale and the check. She stared at him round -eyed, frightened. "Oh, you shouldn't Ravel Kirby, you shouldn't You'll never be able—I mean, you love horses. Any one can see that. You loved I'm-a-Runnin ." Not half as much as 1 love you," he told her soberly. He put his arm around her, "You believe that, don't you? You must believe it" "Darling, of course I do. And— I am glad that you're going to be a respectable lawyer, only—only—" "Only what?" "Welt, sometime, after we've been respectable for a good long while, we'll buy another horse, won't wet A horse as great as I'm-a-Runnin'? Because—we both love horses, don't we?" "We do," Kirby agreed joyfully Down On The Farm—While the man he accused of helping hien supply government secrets to Russia waited for the jury's' verdict in New York, Whittaker Chambers relaxed in his Westminster, Md., home. "I've played my part, now it's up to the jury, Chambers said when asked about the Alger Hiss trial, The BLACK HORSE "Do 'Wou Know" Advisory Panel TED REEVC welIn ts writer LOUIS aOURDON M6�tIIARD PINNINGTOH prominent radio singer tlelv.nifr Librarlo master of ceremonies McGill UUnivsratfy GREGORY CLARK distinguished columnist the population of Canada's 10th province? The population of NewfoNMtlaed, tenth province In the Dominion of Canada, Is 321,171. Do You Know .. , that Newfoundland was dis- covered by John Cabot on June 24, 1497, and was formally occupied on behalf of Great Britain in August, 1583, by Sir Humphrey Gilbert? DO You Know ... that approximately one-third of its area of 42,734 square miles is covered by water ... the capital of Newfoundland is St. John's, a city of 56,709 inhabitants ... over 940 saw mills are in operation ... 206 factories pack salmon with a total pack of some 6,600 cases, and 220 factories pack lobster with a total pack of some 6,300 cases ... seal fishery, codfish packing, whale fishery are also engaged in ... large beds of iron ore are being developed and exten- sive deposits of zinc and lead ore are being cultivated ... in 1947 a total of 396,998 tons of standard newsprint was exported .:. there are i6 hydro -electric plants with 237,471 horsepower developed in 1948. Do You Know any interesting and unusual facts? Our "Advisory Panel" will pay $25 for any authenticated readers' submissions if they are usable. AO letters become our property. Write Black Horse Brewery, Station L, Montreal, P.Q. DAWES BLACK MORSE BREWERY