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HomeMy WebLinkAboutThe Seaforth News, 1952-04-10, Page 7Plant Study Can Pay Off Richly wk Every Canadian is fanillar with certain agricultural plants. For in- stance, we all eat corn and toma- toes, raspberries and plants. But the first settlers in this country would have been very skeptical of these foods. We know that the In- dians saved the colonists' lives during those first bitter winters by teaching them to grow and eat these "new" plants, ll:u1y berries grew wild in this country which were unfamiliar to the Europeans. Luther Burbank, a farm h„y, lift- ed the plum from a swa11, tart local fruit to a luscious prudw;t that could be shipped long diFianees and into all channels of consumption. All of these edible plants have been selected for certain valuable characteristics, and then trained and developed until they reached a highly satisfactory form. But around us today there are still hundreds of wild plants which have not been studied carefully enough for us to know their full value. In fact, one popular definition of a weed is that it is a plant for which the gardener has not yet found a profitable use. For instance, cer- tain types of roses which are high- ly prized and carefully cultivated in Ireland, grow wild and are a nuis- ance to farmers in Louisiana. Today all the world is studying wild plants because we need so many new agricultural products. Years ago, it was thought neces- sary that a plant have high per. centages, of vegetable oil, or pro- tein or starch to be of value. how- ever we now know that small traces of certain chemicals can be of tremendous value. An example of this has been the world-wide search for plants which yield even the smallest amount of chemicals which can be processed to yield cortisone the new drug which gives promise of being so helpful in med- ical treatment. Most of our food needs are well taken care of in Canada today, and we consider war a bad thing for which we must be prepared but which we hope will never conte. In our efforts and desires to make the world a 'happier place to live, we look to science and industry to produce the better things which make life enjoyable. We know that chemistry can test plants and tell us what they contain, but it '"his a. tremendous job to find the valuable components of the thou- sands of wild `plants growing *round us, One of the biggest SAP'S A-RUNN N' problems which chemurgy faces to- day is to analyze wild plants in order to find what they contain that is needed for our industrial expansion. For instance, jet air- planes need castor oil for lubricat- ing certain parts because the oil re- mains unaffected by very high tem- peratures and also by very low temperatures, In fact, only a tiny percentage of castor oil is used for medicinal purposes today while large quantities are used in hy- draulic brakes for machinery. With these thoughts in mind, it is always possible that some stu- dent of chemistry will discover in his own weed patch a new plant which will bring great medical ad- vancement to men and animals, or produce a new element which will make wood last longer than stone or will make paint as resistant to weather as granite, "IN LE Sr clam Andrews Canned fruits—either done at hone of the "boughten” sort—are the homemaker's greatest aids in preparing tasty desserts, either hot or cold, in the shortest possible time. One large can of fruit, in combination with other ingredients will snake two quite different des- serts, on succeeding days, for the --.1.‘sseverage family. An opened jar will keep perfectly for several days in a refrigerator or other cool place, and nutritionists are strong for combining fruits with eggs, hnilk or cereals. FRUIT SAUCE 1 cup sugar teaspoon salt 1 tablespoon cornstarch 1/4 cup cold water cup peach syrup 1 tablespoon lemon juice 1 teaspoon grated lemon rind 1 teaspoon butter or margarine Combine sugar, salt and corn- starch; add water and stir until smooth. Stir in fruit syrup and cook until clear and thickened- about five minutes, Remove from heat and add lemon juice, grated rind and butter. Pour over toast- ed peaches. Serves four. A quickie dessert. * * PINEAPPLE CUSTARD 2 eggs 1.4 cup sugar r/4 teaspoon salt %' teaspoon vanilla 2 caps milk 2 cups cooked rice 2'tablespoons melted butter 34 cup crushed pineapple Beat eggs lightly and add sugar, salt, and vanilla. Heat milk to scalding and add to egg mixture slowly. Add rice, butter and pine- apple which has been measured after draining. Pour into buttered custard cups and place caps in a pan of hot water. Bake at 350°F. until firm—about 40 minutes. Chill, unmold, and serve plain or with custard or fruit sauce -Serves eight. * * * FRUIT CRISP 1 can fruit cocktail (No. 2) 'A cup sifted enriched flour 34 cup brown sugar Ti teaspoon salt T e teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 1/4 cup butter or margarine Drain fruit thoroughly and place in an 8 -inch casserole. Sift to- gether flour, salt, sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg and cut in butter or margarine with a pastry blender or two knives until mixture is crumbly, Sprinkle crumbs over top of fruit and bake at 375°F. for 30 minutes or until top is brown and crisp. Serve hot or cold with fluffy cottage cheese. Serves six. Another quickie. * * * PEAR UPSIDE-DOWN CAKE 4 tablespoons softened butter or margarine 3/4 cup brown sugar Ft lend Who Came To Dinner—Dawn Snobeck, 5, wistfully watches her lunch disappear as her friend, (name unknown), vacuums up everything in ,sight. Dawn asked her mother if she could bring a "little" friend in for lunch, but mother wasn't expecting to put on the dog., 6 canned pear halves cup shortening 34 cup sugar 1 egg 1 teaspoon lemon juice 2 teaspoons grated lemon rind 134 cups sifted cake flour 2 teaspoons Magic baking powder 1/4 teaspoon salt r/ cup milk or syrup from pears Combine softened butter or mar- garine with brown sugar and pat into bottom of an 8 -inch square cake pan. Over this arrange pear halves, cut side down. Cream to- gether shortening and sugar, add egg, lemon juice and rind and beat until fluffy, Sift flour, baking pow- der and salt together and add alter- nately with milk and beat until smooth. Pour batter over pears and bake at 375°F. for 45 minutes or until cake tests done, Serve plain or with fluffy cottage cheese. Serves six. * * * PEACHES IN TOAST CUPS 4 slices enriched bread 2 tablespoons butter or margar- ine 4 peach (or apricot) halves 2 tablespoons brown sugar Trim crusts from bread and butter both sides lightly. Press into muffin pans to form cups and place a small peach or apricot half in each. Sprinkle with brown "Is there someone else, Doris?" sugar and bake in a hot oven (400°F.) 'for ten minutes or until bread is brown. Serve hot with fruit sauce. * * * BAKED PEACH ALASKA (Without ice cream) 6 squares cake (white, sponge or angel food), 3 -3% -inch 6 cling peach halves 3 egg whites 6 tablespoons sugar TA teaspoon salt TA teaspoon vanilla Place cake squares on cookie sheet and lay well -drained peach halves, cut side down, on squares of cake, Beat egg whites until foamy and add sugar and salt gradually. Continue ueating until egg whites will hold peaks, then add vanilla. Frost peach -toppers cake with meringue and bake in a hot oven (425°F.) from three to four minutes or until meringue is lightly browned, Serve imme- diately. A glamorous dessert from left -over cake and fruitl Serves six. There ere still savages who use shells for money. in more civilized parts money is used ter shells. Answers to Intelligence Test I—Square dance, 2---Jurlas. 3•- V is t or i a. 4—Counterpoint. 5 -- .Nine. 6—Chief. 7--(A) i'armicl,at•l: (B) Romberg; (C) Gershwin; (1)1 Porter. Speed and Friction Airplanes that travel faster than sound u,tlat be cooled if their pass- engers are not to fry within them because of the heat generated by air friction, The heat developed by any flying body—bullet, aircraft or space roeket—rises roughly in pro- portion to the square of its speed. If the velocity of a speedy plane is doubled, the rise in temperature of the aircraft will therefore he in- creased four tines. Ways of cool- ing were discussed before the Royal Aeronautical Society by. Dr. W. F. }Iil'on, In actual practice, he stated!, the effects of rising speed have to be qualified because of the change 111 temperature with increasing alti- tudes up to 70,000 feet and because of allowances that must be made for aerodynamic shape and for the time it tapes a plane to absorb heat. With the development of jet- propelled airliners for commercial passenger transporation, the prob- lem of frictional heat will be im- portant. Cabins can easily become ovens, particularly in the tropics. A cabin -cooling system somewhat similar to a type now in use in jet - fighting planes will be needed, In these planes a device compresses hot air from the engine, then lets it expand rapidly to below the freez- ing point. Mechanical compression of air in this fashion, according to Hilton, is likely to be limited to a speed of less than three times that of sound, and the use of a rain -jet engine to from four to five tines the speed of sound.' A rocket -powered aircraft may he able to fly at these very high speeds because it carries its own oxygen. Only the heating up of the outside of the structure need be considered, "The Great Ship Swallowers" Those Treacherous Goodwin Sand* great harbour. Parliamentary Corm mittees have been appointed tie examine the more feasible sounding schemes, But the Goodwina cone tinue to defy all attempts to here ness them to Man's use. First charted during the reign of Queen Elizabeth, they comprise three hook -shaped banks lying Std a semicircle off the Kant toast be- tween the North and South Fore- lands. Covering an area of some thirty - five square miles, they sprawl across the track of shipping using the Channel. With the aid of hollow steel probes marine geologists have die• covered that the Goodwins consist of an eighty -feet depth- of sand, shells and seacoal resting on a bed of chalk. Driven by the swirling tides hundreds of tons of sand are constantly on the move, forming alternate shoals and deep water patches. No lighthouse yet devised could stand the terrific strains of euch movements, Four powerful lightships equip- ped with warning guns and lanterns which flash an eleven -pule beam, together with numerous buoys, help to steer shipping clear of these menacing sandbanks. Yet year after year, when wintry gales lash the channel, the Deal and Walmer lifeboatmen can always reckon out being called out to aid vessels drifting into the danger area. Destroyed by Waves Ships ranging from 200 -toll coasters to 10,000 -ton ocean-going steamships equipped with the latest navigational devices have stranded on the Goodwins, Highest casualty rate for one year was in 1946, when twelve vessels, five of them American, went aground, Experts say that these mishaps were caused not by bad weather but over -confidence after years of sailing in convoy. Statistics show, in fact, that, al- though some forty vessels pass the Goodwins every day, the risk of becoming stranded is less than one in ten thousand. Since 1914 there have been ten times as many wrecks off the entrance of New York Harbour as on the Good - wins. " But in the days of sail ships pass- ing up and down the Channel in thick or stormy weather were often liable to be carried helplessly on to the Sands in the grip of the strong tidal streams which flow across them. Once the vessel had grounded on the fatal shoals she was rapidly pounded to destruc- tion by the waves. The rapid disappearance of stranded ships gave rise to the belief that the Goodwins were quicksands, hence the name of "ship swallowers." But it has long been proved that when uncovered they are perfectly firm and solid. Cricket matches have frequently been played on the Goodwins at low tide, the first of which took place in 1824. In 1887 three Lon- doners held a cycle race on the Sands. They found little difficult in pedalling, except when more than twenty yards for the edge, when their wheels sank slightly. Buried There And as far bac!: as 1705 a man named Granville was even buried on the Sands in accordance with a wish expressed in his will. He must have been regarded as an eccentric, for one of the mourners noted in his diary that the funeral "occasioned melt discourse, he having had no relation at all to the sea." The Coming of steam and the in- troduction of new and improved navigational ,deviree have robbed the t;nodwins of ntu.h of their former terror. But it seems that so long as there are fog and gales so will the Sands be a menace, and the Deal and lttalmtr life- boats are ever ready. Blow up the Goodwin Sands! This novel use has been suggested for the atom bomb. But the in. habitants of eastern Kent can cone tinue to sleep peacefully in their beds, for the latest notion is hardly likely to be adopted. It is very nearly on a par with that of the individual who proposed that the Sands should be ringed with minea to warn sailors when they were steaming into the danger area, These dreaded shoals have been responsible for the destruction of so many ships that they were dub- bed "the great Ship Swallowers." Suggestions for taking the bite out of the Goodwin Sands have been legion. Companies have been floated with' the object of reclaim- ing the land for cultivation, and excavating the buried treasure de- posited from wrecked ships, Swept Away During tite Napoleonic Wars the Duke of Wellington proposed that a defensive fort should be built on them and Admiral Cochrane con- ceived the idea of binding the sands together with asphalt to form the foundation for a lighthouse. Famous engineers thought it pos- sible to build warning beacons on the Sands—until they tried. For every safety device ever erected on these treacherous shoals has sooner or later been swept away. The longest -lived structure was a stoutly braced mast put up by a Trinity House expert in 1849. Thirty years later it had vanished beneath the waves. Other ingenious individuals sug- gested enclosing the area within breakwaters and thus forming a Test Your Intelligence be MI Score 10 points for each correct answer in the first six questions. 1. A "quadrille" is a: —Sword —Parade maneuver —Square dance —Ballet slipper 2: Who betrayed Jesus with a kiss? —Peter —Judas —Pilate —Barnabas 3. The capital of British Columbia is: —Vancouver -New Westminster —Victoria ' —Nelson 4. A needle is not required in the following occupation: —Tatting —Counterpoint —Crocheting —Sailmaking 5. An army squad consists of how many men? —Nine —Eighteen —Twenty-seven —One -hundred -and -fifty 6. Which of the following words is misspelled? —Seize —Cheif —Receive —Sieve 7. Scrambled below are four song titles and their composers. Match thein up, scoring 10 points for each correct answer. (A) Star Dust (B) Desert Song (C) Summertime (D) Night and Day Total your points. A score of superior; 90-100, very superior. —George Gershwin —Cole Porter —Hoagy Carmichael —Sigmund Romberg 0-20 is poor; 30-60, average; 70-80, Fluffy Rice With Less Rinsing Are you an avid rice washer? If so, you can relax... Times have changed, The diligent dunking isn't quite so essential after all! At least that's what the U.S. Depart- ment of Agriculture indicates in one of its recent bulletins prepared .after research on plain white rice cookery. Isere are some conclu- sions admittedly "a surprise to many cooks." 1. Don't wash rice before cook- ing if it comes clean from the pack- age. It is less apt to be sticky if not washed before cooking. Bulk rice may need "dry cleaning" — rubbing in a towel after picking out husks and poor grains. If rice must be washed, use very hot water, 2. Cook rice in as little water as possible, this assures you more flavor and keeps texture firm but tender. Rice needs no more than three times its measure of water for cooking — usually less. One cup of uncooked rice makes 3 cups cooked — enough for six servings. For seasoning, allow / teaspoon salt for each cup of uncooked rice. 3. Boil rice gently in a loosely covered pan. Rough boiling may break grains and cause rice to boil over. 4. If cooked according to above directions, rinsing rice afterwards is unnecessary. The Depart :neat in addition has something to say to those of us who like "fluffy, dry rice with each grain standing separate." It says to boil gent'y until tender. or boil part time, then let the pan ' stand tightly covered in a warns place so that ri,e finishes cooking i11 its own Stv:nll. Boiling Method. Stir I cup un- conked rice into 2 to 23i cups rap- idly boiling salted water. (Use the larger amount it you can't keep your heat very low.) Bring back to boiling, then lower heat until water is just bubbling. Cover loose- ly and cook slowly 20 to 25 min- utes, stirring occasionally with a fork for even cooking, Remove lid, reduce .heat and let rice stand 5 minutes to dry out. Short -Boil Method. Stir 1 cup uncooked rice into 11/4 to 11/4 cups rapidly boiling salted water. 13ring back to boiling point, then lower heat until water is just bubbling. Cover loosely and cook slowly I5 minutes. Remove pan from direct. heat and let stand 10 to 15 minutes covered tightly. Serves To have rice moist but not mushy, cook in a double boiler or bake in a covered dish in the oven. This type is preferred for patties, croquettes or a molded dish. Double -Boiler Method. Stir 1 cup uncooked rice into 134 cups rapidly boiling salted water in the upper pan over direct heat. Bring back to boiling and then set upper pan over boiling water. Cook, covered tightly, about 45 minutes or until tender, stirring occasion• ally for even cooking. Oven Method, Plane 1 cup un- cooked rice with a half teaspoon salt in a baking dish. Pour 2 to 2/ cups boiling water over rice. Cover the dish tightly and bake in a moderate oven (350°17,) about 45 minutes or until tender. FAIR QUESTION A youngster from upstate New York asked novelist Sam Adams to help get him admitted to Grot- on. "You haven't a chance," Ad- ams told him, "unless your father, and your grandfather too, were Groton boys in their day." The youngster reflected briefly, then asked, "Say, how did they get the darn place started?" A ministry student minted kiddie Refused to accept his degree. He said: "its enough to be Fiddle. 1Cithont bring 'Fiddle, 1).1)." BY • HARoIn ARNETT HiP socrs, IP HUNG UP ON A WIRE COAT HANGER". AS SHOWN_ WILL NOT CRACK W11118 DR.YINc• c;yr 'THgY SHOULD 9E HUNS, IN A COOL, DRY PLACE.