The Seaforth News, 1943-08-19, Page 6SEAFORTH NEWS
THURSDAY, AUGUST 10, 10
Wild Carrot Is
Spreading' At An
Alarming Rate
Wild carrot is spreading at an al-
arming a.'ate in Ontario; and is now
considered 'gime of the `, most objec-
tionable' weeds in the province, says
the Crops, Seeds and Weeds Branch
of the Ontario Department of Agri-
culture, This weed, however, can be
controlled and farmers are urged, to
take drastic steps to help in its elim-
ination,
Wild carrot is a biennial and re-
quires two years to produce seed.
The plant flowers from duly to Sep-
tember, and when near maturity the
flower clusters curl up and break off
• during the fall' and . winter, scatter-
ing millions of seeds on the ground.
The importance of destroying all
plants immediately after they come
into flower cannot be emphasized
too much, as the seeds may be car
Tied for miles to infest fields.
The weed does not give any diffi-
culty in fields where thorough eulti-
\ration and a short rotation of crops,
such as clovers, buckwheat, hoed
crops, and early summer cultivation,
followed by fall wheat or rye, is
practised, However, in meadows
which are down two years or more,
in clover and timothy fields kept for
seed and hi pasture fields, this is
rapidly becoming one of the worst
weeds. Pulling, spudding or cutting
for two years in succession will not
give new plants an opportunity to
mature seed and will lessen the am-
ount of wild carrot. When a single
plant or a small patch is observed all
other work should be dropped until
every plant is eradicated. Clover and
timothy fields being kept for seed
should be gone over carefully and
all wild carrot plants pulled out.
Pasture fields or hay fields where a
single cut of hay has been taken -off
should be trimmed again before the
plants become too far advanced. If
plants have reached the stage where
flower clusters have curled up, the
whole area should be raked up and
burned.
Chemical weed killeds are the on-
ly practical solution for control of
this weed on roadsides and fence
lines where cultivation is impossible.
For information as to spraying, far-
mers are urged to write to the Crops,
•Seeds and Weeds Branch, Parlia-
ment Buildings, Toronto, f or the
latest booklet on "Weed Eradication
by Chemicals,"
ever, he had to runthe vielous ga-
mut of employer's who h ve I-litloi'Lto
notNons about races.
Oue jobs eanze and went, Skippy
'earned to fly, and through that thril-
cing sport, found a new passion---,
parachute jumping,
Atter making 0 name ' for,, hiiriself'
in the ranks of colored flyer's, Simth.
de&&decl that he needed more money
and ic,ok'a ,fob in the Standard. Par-
aehute Company.
T7n'ike many of the Negroes from
Alabama, Skippy Smith was not 111
cter,,te, He was nc:1 0 sharecropper,
Ufa lather had boort on instructor of
mathematics in one of the best Ne-
gro colleges of the South, and Nigher
e`1t cation was within Skippy's reach
had he desired it, His jot) at the
Standard, one of the West's leading
aviation supplies companies; solved
his financial difficulties and at the
same time provided a nl with the
opportunity to show his stuff. He
started in as a packer, that ,18, 0
worker who `weeps parachutes so
they open peop;ir y, One mistake is
all that any jumper or packer neons
to make(
Soon Smith was promoted to the
job of "rop-tester." In this work
you strap a 'chute on your (back, get
in a plane, and when the proper el-
evation is reached, merely step out,
If the chute' opens, you file a detail-
ed report,
From the job of testing chutes,
Smith entered the production de-
partment, a position that set him
apart from his fellow employees. It
was here that he tasted the bitterest
dregs of prejudice. To combat it
he made a systematic canvass of the
plant's 300 -odd employees, asking
for their autographs. This gesture so
flattered them that they began to
soften towards him. He skimped
and saved. His ambition burned
brighter than ever. He decided to
become a manufacturer himself!
With the slim stake of, $300 he
struck out. A building was leased
for $100. For equipment and incid-
entals he drew another check for the
remaining $200. Then he secured
the necessary priorities for machin-
ery. His former employer granted
him a contract for pilot chutes, the
small ones that precede the large
parasals out of the pack. Beyond the
fact that he still had no real working
capital, things were beginning to
look somewhat better,
At this point Skippy heard about
Dr. Hawkins, personal physician to
Rochester, and applied to hint for
help.
Dr. Hawkins was enthusiastic over
Skippy's project because it included
a plan for tearing down racial bar-
riers by hiring both white and Ne-
gro employees.
A short conference was called by
the three men. Rochester liked the
idea too, and agreed to write a
check for a sizeable sum.
Partitions had to be moved and
floors scrubbed. To keep down the
overhead, Smith did these things
himself. Next came the problem of
,tiring. All the skilled workers were
employed at Standard, so he went to
the National Youth Administration
where girls had been given experi-
ence with parachute silk.
The director had Mexican, Negro
and white girls whom she had train-
ed. Smith grabbed for them and,
with a few skilled workers who had
come with him from Standard, quick-
ly turned the girls into top-notch
producers.
The race problem at Pacific Para-
chute Company never even started.
These girls had worked together in
the NY'A classes, and instead of race
friction there is only competition to
see which group can turn out the
most 'chutes.
Rochester, like Skipp, finds him-
self a very busy man these days.
There are radio and movie assign-
ments, There are plays for the army
camps.
Smith and Anderson have proved
conclusively that races can work to-
gether without friction,
Dark "Angels"
9111 pf 34 entries, the device has
been awarded 0 prize of 460 by the
Council of the Royal Society of Arts,
Louden,
The grim specter of racial discrim-
ination hangs over Ameri'ca's war
effort. The man-hours which have
been lost as the result of it should
be very pleasing to Doctor Paul
Goebbels, Boycotts and threats of
governmental crack -downs against
offenders have brought some abate-
ment of discriminatory practices but
not enough.;, Threats and counter
threats are not solutions for this
ugly problem. Inter -racial good -will,
founded on intelligence and real de-
mocracy, can and will win the prod-
uction battle line for us. It can be
done and it has been done.
Out on the West Coast there is a
manufacturing firm, the Pacific Para-
chute Corporation, financed with Ne-
gro capital. It pays no heed to the
color of its employees' skins, nor to
their religious preferences. It has a
job to c1o, and is doing it without
any fascist claptrap about races. '
The financier is Eddie Anderson,
known to millions of radio listeners
as "Rochester," the faithful valet to
comedian Jack Benny.
He owns a palatial mansion in the
fashionable section of Hollywood
and a race horse, "Burnt Cork,"
which he believes to be a, real derby
contender. His Life, like that of the
heavyweight champ, Joe Louis, has
done much to earn prestige for his
people.
• Rochester's entrance into war pro-
duction came in a most indirect
manner—through his association.
with one Howard "Skippy" Smith.
Skippy is an ex -parachute jumper
and aviator, He is also a man of de-
termination. Though he often went
hungry, barnstorming in the sticks,
he was not one to let color or a lack
of opportunity stand in his way.
About three years ago he arrived
in Southern California as free of
money as Hitler is of scruples. He
wanted to learn flying, which had
been his dream as a carpenter's help-
er back in the canebrakes of his na-
tive Alabama. Southern California,
incidentally, is the Mecca for all
young flyers, drawing thein like a
lodestone,
It takes a lot of money to learn
flying, and when you haven't any
rou either abandon the idea or try
to earn the money somehow—as
Skippy Smith had to do.
yam Diego, the conte% of airplane
manufacturing, provided Smith with
odd jobs and enough money to carry
out his heart's desire. First, how-
NAZi AIR SECRETS
Secret information about, German
aircraft engineering was secured by
the British Government when a
South Wales engine overhaul factory
rebuilt a complete 'German mare -
engine from a quantity of spares and
salvaged parts.
Five complete engines were eventu-
S.O.S. BY PRESSING BUTTON
ally assembled, all of them passing
tests, and Mr, G, Iltilnmel'stone, the
superintendent, received a Tetter
from the British Min stry of Aireraft`
Production thanking him for what
they described as "0 remarkable
achievement."
This factory is, one of twelve run
by the British Overseas Airways Cor-
poration, whose wartime work lha's
earned for itthe nickname "Merch-
ant Air Service." Over 40,000 miles
of British air mates from Sweden
to South Africa and the United
States to India, these unarmed ships
of the air maintain vital eomniuniere
tione 01 Empire though all the the•
rtes of war. bast year they. flew
0,000,000 kluges; in 1943 the figure
will be round about 6,000,000 miles.
Regardless of weather and risks of
enemy interference these 'planes
carry vital messages, important per✓
sonne1,_ films and written propa-
ganda, The ul'geney of the work is
giving the Corporation muchvaluable
data for use after the war when eng-
Ines will do more for the same
weight, and radio and other de-
vices will open up an era of safety
for commercial flying 'which would
hare seemed impossible 4nl peace
time.
Wife. "My 'husband has no bad "'
habits whatsoever. Ile never drinks,
and spends all his evenings at borne.
Why lie doesn't even belong' to a
club."
Friend: "Does he smoker"
Wife: "Only in moderation, . He
likes a cigar aftef, he has had a good
dinner, but I don't suppose he smokes
two cigars a month."
Want and Por Sale Ads, 111 week 05c
Portable Lifeboat Radio Signals 60
Times Over 200 Miles
Every ship in the British merchant
service mast now carry an ingenious
addition to its lifeboat equipment in
the form of a portable wireless trans-
mitter by which anyone can send out
a i'aclio distress signal just by press-
ing a button.
An S.O.S. call is then radiated for
two minutes over a distance of more
than 200 miles, and the portable
transmitter can repeat it 60 and '70
times at intervals of an hour, Long
sustained signals are also given auto-
matically so that rescuers can take
their bearing to pick up the lifeboat,
The transmitter is 'fitted with a
Morse key for a wireless operator,
Although it weighs less than 50
lbs. the transmitter is exceptionally
strong And if a ship is sinking can be
thrown into the sea where it will
float wtihout damage until picked up
by the lifeboat.
•
PROGRESS IN SICILY
These are pictures of Canadian troops in action in Sicily. Patrols like the one pictured at the top moved fsom
one Sicilian town to another. Peasant donkey carts were commandeered to haul oeavy weapons and otoer equip-
ment. Wrifining despite their wounds are these Canadian troops, shown in the bottom,picture as they rested at an
advanced dressing station: Medical Offlrer Capt, C. A. Ca mpbell, of St. Thoinas, Ontario, is Shown third from left,
•
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The Seaforth News
SEAFORTH, ONTARIO,