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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1954-06-17, Page 3"From Rags to Rhubarb" is the intriguing title of an article by Pearl P. Puckett in a recent issue of "The American Farm Youth". It tells the story of Verner Bass of Citaidrolt, Neb- raska and - well -, I'll let, Miss Puckett take on from here . . Back in 1929, Bass was .fire- man and locomotive engineer for the C.&.N.W. Railroad, .then the depression laid him off. At that time Bass had a family of four small children and a wife, and just couldn't afford to be out of work, At the very last resort, he turned to truck farm- ing on a small rented place, In spite of his frugal management, the going was plenty tough, for the severe drought, grasshoppers and hail took most of his garden stuff year after year, 5 5 e At the end of two years, his entire savings of $200.00 was used to buy the one -acre tract, and Bass labored early and late to erect a make -shift basement - type house for his family. Then, he hit upon the scheme of add- ing a little nursery stock, peren- nials and house plants, more or less as a sideline to supplemout his lagging income. * Bass didn't even know at the time he unwrapped the gera- nium plants, which he had re- ceived from an Omaha green- house, that the old newspaper wrapping would figure in his riches. The reason he noticed it all was because it had been pub- lished in Lousville, Kentucky, then because he loved rhubarb pie, he went on to read an ar- ticle in the paper about an all- ied variety of rhubarb which had been imported from Canada through a leading nurseryman, who had already secured a per- mit to import through the De- partment o f Agriculture a t Washington, D.C. The rhubarb was seedless, everbearing in na- ture, and sweeter than any vari- hty ever produced, By the time e had finished the article, his mouth was fairly watering for rhubarb pie, and he sat down and wrote to the paper, inquir- ing where he might purchase ouch a plant. In a few days, he received one small root and a For A Giant -This king-size ring probably fitted the legendary Paul Bunyan well, but it looks like more of a millstone around the neck of Millie McKirdy. The ring is poet. of the Bunyan exhi- bit at the University of Minne- sota, "swell" letter from the news- paper, * * ' * Bass took the small root and cut it into seven divisions. After months of pampering the shall rhubarb cuts, five of them lived to start the mother bed which has figured in his riches. The rhubarb was propogated as rap- idly as possible, for Bass could see the vast possibilities. Con- sidering the fact that it was seedless and that it would al- ways have to be increased from root divisions which would take a lot of time to increase it in sufficient large portions to sup- ply the demand, he used to look at the mother plants and study them for a long long time be- fore making a cut so as to be sure to get all the divisions pos- sible from the plant. of; * * Even with a fairly large stock of young rhubarb and an expen- sive new green house, 1934 was a rugged year, Bass had two mortgages on his acreage and equipment and a bumper crop which looked promising until August 15 - then it began to look like Bass' were finished; for a hail storm not only laid his garden low, but entirely demol- ished his glass greenhouse * * Instead of quitting, Bass pull- ed his belt in a couple of notches and took his trouble to the F.S.A. After a few holes wait- ing he was granted an inter- view; but when he told them he was building up a stock of new rhubarb which would make hint rich, and that he really had no assests, other than his pre- cious rhubarb plants, the fellow be hind the desk pumped this shoulders up and down and stared wildly: "Mr. Bass," he said, and it sounded painfully contrived to a guy with his dreams geared on 80 acres of all red rhubarb, "You remind me of the fellow who went into the frog business to get rich quick - and he had his frogs all coun- ted before they hatched, too. Al- most everyone likes the stuff, has a few stalks of rhubarb growing in his own yard. I'm afraid we can't do much for you," * * * Bass had weathered six years of pretty tough tines a n d wouldn't take "no" for an an- swer, so the guy behind the desk promised to investigate the possibilities of making a 'fortune in rhubarb, and finally, after much urging and high-pressure sales talks, made Bass a small loan that carried him through until he could market some of the root crop. * W * That fall, Bass sold all the roots he could spare to a National Mail Order House that paid him 6¢ 'each for the roots. The next year the National Mail Order House could not -use all his available root crop so he mailed a few roots to a large Philadel- ' phia seed house offering them at 60 each, however, the Phila- delphia house wired back ask- ing him how many roots he could furnish at 350 each, then in order to get a • portion of his root crop, the National Mail Or- der House started paying him 350 each for roots, * * * By 1946, Bass had 45 acres of the finest rhubarb ever grown, He sold pretty close to 200,000 CROSSWORD PUZZLE ACUOSS 1. weaken 4, stop unintentionally 0 wire uuwe 1, pouch 2, Bustle 3, !Cast Indian perfume 9. Disdain measurement 5 Melody 2. Mountain 1n N. Metric land Alaska tneasnies 13. This killed n cat 13, O'abriee 17, Ciphers 13. Central part 10 Domestic fo051 20. Dewily white 22, Vie 20. Compositions for two 27. Mass of flouting ice 22. (legative 20 I'ronnword pu22te blyd 30 1 mnmerre 31small oohs 32. Long fish 32 Demolish 34. Carry 05. Secluded 37. Small ornamental balls 33. Three -toad sloths sloths 39. ilerthern meropenn 40, (forgive IL tininess of Ilene 40, Make amends 93. Kind of cloth 90.5 of on 0. Wand si's4 d 21, 17Igpen 7. Long,fsland 23. Tries (ab,) ' 24. water nymph B, Cough drop 25, Stainers 5, Russian viling.` 97. Unruly oomn.unity children 10. &paneso 30, Untrue person statesman 34. Vegetable 11, 'River 1n France •14, Dispatched le, Drives at 211 angle 10. Crowd 20. Deeply 21. Division of ancient aabylenle 22. Step 20, American inventor 37, Lose Ilfe fluid 30, Magnitude 40. 1{nock 41, Slender finial 42. Swab •t7, Leave 43. Fifty -tour 4.4, St ep .13 nisrover / 2 3 .. •?4 6 4 7 a " F•9- /a // 14 ' , !3 /4 ,6' 16 4 % 57 �--' . '1,7'' /a l':' 9 PO21 °'i :22 25 24 26' 26 if,- 27 ,+f f ,:: • 29 20 ;: iii .3.� 31 32 i r 33 35' 36 A+:' ,37 $11a,. 46 4/ .. + 43 ...,.....�., 1W d'.6 Answe • elsewhere on this page, Having Wonderful Time- Wish ime-Wish You Wore Hair It seeins that hairdos ought nowadays to be more than merely decorative. they ought to have mundane significance and be functional and what not. To give you an idea of what we mean, we present these examples, graciously posed by Mrs. Jatnes Umbehr, a student nurse at Grace Hospital. BANGKOK INSPIRES this off -the - ear creation. Can be worn closer if girl doesn't have time to wash ears before a date. Not for areas where mountain goat hunting is permitted. OVER -THE -TOP coiffure is latest thing for girl who loses left ear- ring of her favorite pair. Can be reversed for lost right earring. Also nice for girl with ane caulk- flowered aulkflowered ear, HYDROGEN AGE hairdo, featur- es awe-inspiring mushroom cloud, ideal for women who are inclined to blow their tops, Style harmonizes with a prayerful at- titude. PONY TAILS fore and aft are appropriate for gals who go to horse races or watch 'em on TV. Also suits personality of miss who can't figure out whether she is coming or going. roots at 350 each, and still could not supply the demand. In ad- dition to the roots sold, he re- tained 250,000 choice roots to set out the balance of his 80 acres, and was heralded as the Rhubarb ming of the World. d, 4: t Here is Mr. Bass' secret for rhubarb success: "The plants are set either in the fall or early spring. We plant it in check rows thirty-five inches each way, this takes about 5,000 plants per acre. The plants are cultivated with tractor until the foliage gets so large that we have to use horses, as they do not break up the rhubarb as much as the tractor, We usually cultivate from 11 to 14 times during the season, and hand hoe the plants around each hill of rhubarb about three ewes per season. Rhubarb is a plant that is not troubled by insects, ex- cepting grasslroppers, and no diseases of the foliage or roots have so far made their appear- ance, so spraying is not neces- sary which is a big help in growing the crop. The plants set out in early spring are har- vested the next fall. This gives us young roots which are full of energy and vitality and some- thing extra that older growth roots. do not have. So far, we have, not sold any of the stalks for table use because removing the stalks would also weaken the vitality, especially if pulled the first season, and as a mat- ter of fact, pulling the stalks the first season usually proves fatal to the plant. Digging is done with a plow and tractor, plowing at least a foot deep, We have tried many kinds of dig- gers but find the walking plow the best. After plowing out the roots and removing the soil from them, they are placed in storage pits where they can be stored over the winter if neces- sary, or they can be removed to our cutting room for cutting up into marketable size No. i divisions any time we wish. They are packed in Bruce boxes 100 divisions to the box and ready to start their journey to a nursery, seed house or to a large grower. We use lots of fertilizer, also the commercial types of Sulphate of Ammonia and Sodium Nitrate have been found to be especially good, as rhubarb is a heavy nitrogen feeder. Of course, it takes good cultivation, too. Rhubarb will not do good if left to grow un- cultivated, or in grass laud un- less the soil is very fertile, and there is lots of rainfall. My rhu- barb has boon shipped to many of America's leading seed houses and nurserymen and some has already been shipped to Europe and South America, but it be- gins to look like the biggest out- let will be right here in the U.S.A. - to the growers who raise hrubarb for canneries or for the quick freezing industries, as the beautiful deep red of this rhubarb when processed gives it a top sale appeal." 8' * * Yes, indeed, Verner Bass has gone a long, long ways up the ladder of success -, from rags to rhubarb king, with a neat pay-off of close to $200,000 an- nually, That's clever parlaying a 'lot' of debts, one email rhu- barab plant, a ton of courage, brains and brawn. ars Fly By Sound It is an eerie experience to sit outside a cave, in the dusk of early evening, and watch the bats come out, (lying swiftly and silently, like moving shadows, They have a marvelous way of missing obstacles; and unless they are badly frieghtencd, they nev- er collide with each other. Though we hear not even a whis- per of sound, the bats are actu- ally making a series of sharp squeaks, so high-pitched that the human ear can not detect them. However, extremely sensitive machines have recorded t h e squeaks. Scientists call such high-pitched sounds "ultrasonic," "Ultra" means beyond, and "son- ic" refers to sound. The science that studies this type of sound is called "ultrasonics." The ultrasonic squeaks of the bat help it to avoid obstacles be- cause the sounds are reflected back to the animal as echoes from anything solid with which it might collide, Bats have been masked so that they could not see at all, then turned loose in a room where piano wires were strung a foot apart. The bats flew without any difficulty But when their ears wore plugged or their mouths were gagged, they could be made to fiy only if they were thrown into the air; and then they collided with the wires and even with the walls of the room, For a long time people thought that bats were guided by special senses in their wings, but when the wings were covered with nail polish the bats flew as well as usual, We know now that their system for avoiding bump- ing into things depends on their ability to hear these ultrasonic e'hoes, a sort of natural radar. Smoking Marathons Twenty -nine Men and four women took part in a novel smoking contest at Burgllausen, Bavaria, the other day. Standing in line, they each lit up a four - and -a -half-inch cigar. The idea? To smoke it as long es possible. At the end of two hours seven minutes -when the old German cigar smoking record bad been beaten -three men and two wom- en were still puffing away gently. Then one woman's cigar went out. One by one the men smok- ers dropped out. Yes, the winner was a woman, Frau Niederhuch- ner. She had achieved a new record of two hour twenty-six minutes. Judged by our standards, her achievement is not impressive. The winner of a pipe -smoking "marathon" some years ago in Britain started with an eighth of an ounce of tobacco in a briar and kept his pipe alight for two hours fifty-one minutes. One of the oddest smoking contests held in this country tools place in Derbyshire. A veteran smoker undertook to smoke a pound of tobacco at one sitting. A china teapot was the "pipe" and he smoked through the spout. He did it and won $150. st Fur Coats Geese From Bachelors Any day now a coastguard cutter will leave a western har- bour to keep the world's strang- est appointment. At a certain spot an old bull .seal will appear close to the ship. Soon the waters all around will become alive with seals, all heading northward for the Bering Sea. Every year the animals keep their appointment without fail. Escorting their furry convoy, the coastguardmen keep a watch- ful eye out for seal poachers, until the herds safely reach the mist -shrouded Pribiloff Islands in the Arctic Circle, For this desolate region is the seals' home and breeding ground. Every spring they leave the warm southern waters in which they have' spent the winter to trek back to their birthplace where thousands of baby seal/ will be born. But first each bull seal endea- vours to collect the biggest harem, and savage fights break out when the younger males try to steal a "wife" for themselves. It is the unsuccessful bachelors with unscarred pelts who are destined to become fur coats for women. Soon after the new pups have been born, the mothers leave them in creches, called "pods," while they waddle into the sea to forage for food. When they return each mother unerringly picks out her own offspring from the mass of mewing, whimpering babies. But if one of the baby seals is orphaned it is callously neglected and eventually starves to death. When the pups are about six weeks old they are taken to the water by their parents and taught to swim, As soon as they are proficient they are left to look after themselves. The seals remain in the Pribi- toffs until early autumn. Then, guided by their old leader, they plunge into the sea and head south. One lady to another: "I must hurry. It's ten to three and I have got an appointment with my psychiatrist. You see, if I'm late he starts without me." MY SCHOOL JJ$SON Rev. R. Barclay Warren, ILA., B.D. Amus Denounces Iutenlperance Antos 2:11-12; 4:1-2; 6:14 Memory Selection: Let us Walk honestly, as in the day; not it% rioting and drunkenness. ltomatte 13:13. In the last lesson we noted the charges of the prophet Am00 against the social injustices cur- rent in Israel. In today's lesson Amos denounces Israel for its drinking. Even the Nazarites, men who had vowed not to par- take of the fruit of the vine, were being served wine. At the same time it was being said tet the prophets, "prophecy not." Perhaps there is more of a con- nection than we at first realize. As a nation turns more and more to the drinking of liquor there is less desire to hear the word. of God, A Sunday tinds more people nursing the aftermath of the drinking parties than in the house of God singing His praises. Apparently the women of Is- rael, called "kine of Bastian", joined in urging their husbands to bring on the drinks. What would Amos say if he entered a ladies' beverage r oom or a modern cocktail lounge today? He would find women of every social strata with glassy eye and flushed cheek, reeking with alco- hol. Their loud talk indicates that the drugged brain has relaxed the inhibitions. They are not themselves. This "drinking wine in bowls" was one of the major evils which led Amos to predict the down - fail of the nation. "Therefore now shall they go captive with the first that go captive, and the banquet of them that stretched themselves shall be removed." Was Israel worse than Can- ada? We doubt it. Canada is spending far more on liquor than on religion and education com- bined. And the end is not yet. The railways are petitioning for the right to sell liquor in the dining cars. A campaign is on to have grocers sell wine and beer, Just where is the satura- tion point? If God punished Israel will Canada escape? There is only one sure remedy: a turning to God. People who have surrendered to Jesus Christ don't need and don't want the temporary stimulus of intoxicat- ing beverages. OVERDONE TREATMENT An old man heard about a treatment that would restore his, youth. The medicine was a cer- tain extract made up in pills. He bought a box. But instead of taking one every day he swallowed the boxful one night. Next morning the family had great difficulty in waking the old man. At last he rolled over and rubbed his eyes. "All right all right," he grumbled, "I'll get up, but I won't go to school." (Upside d1otve to prevent. 1'i1peeki0cjl� ng) Pe aZ3A1 ) Dd 3 s JiI3 1 1 :>HEIw 01 S `'y S a v a 9'$31)1 d 1iN39:1°r• 133 3 ICI 3ada1"f11W3 Ab'Nono GN3�N0�� HSV o a ER* 110 Al IN01 ON i I r"' 1 1 v N n 0 D Sea Of Matrimony - It'll take more than floods to stop this couple as they ride in en ox -drawn cart after a wedding cere- mony in Sires, France. A swollen river inundated the community, but hip -booted guests forgot about the flood to toast Gabrielle - Hourquet and Edouard Lalone at o party on the second floor, where all was safe.