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The Seaforth News, 1961-11-30, Page 7Pk whip la Cheaper y Elephant In ancient India, Hindu king.: going into battle were wont le use elephants as tanks to lead a charge ageing enemy infantry and break up its in ass e cl strength. When the kings fell more peaceful, they used their pets in elaborate temple proeee- $ions or fol• a saunter through the streets, this reel raja sitting under a golden "howdah" -seat or pavilion -to display to the population his power and glory; ' In the seventeenth century, the Moghul Emperdr Aurangzeb had a special platoon of elephants, operating as royal guards in the palace gardens and some of them were trained to salute His Ma- jesty as 11e passed by, In modern India, there are just es many elephants, if not more, but very few rajas and emperors to maintain them, and the cost of feeding these leviathans, or at least those that are in captivity,. has become quite a problem, In a few cases, ingenious officials of the hard-pressed, under - stocked Indian railways have been using elephants in out-of- the-way yards to shunt rolling stock. But the process admitted- ly is slow and not too many of these four -legged shunting engi- nes can be used at the same time. About eight years ago, in the heavily forested terai regions of the Himalayas between India And Nepal, which were slated for reclamation, planners decided to use elephants instead of tractors for plowing the reclaimed land. There was talk at that time of using a thousand elephants sim- ultareously, but as sometimes happens in these projects, enthu- siasm outstrips reason, for no one thought of the time it takes to trap, tame and train an elephant, However, disappointments apart, after eight years of effort, those taking part in the experiment have come forward to assert that elephant -plowing definitely is cheaper than tractor plowing, that an average elephant can plow seven acres per day at a cost of Rs, 6 (about $1.29) per acre whereas the tractor's cost per acre is exactly double. After much experimentation also, three different types of plow have been evolved for har- nessing to elephant power; the first a two -farrow plow, the sec- ond a three -furrow plow and a harvster. Subject to the availa- bility of this type of power, these plow: and harvesters now can be mass.produced in the country. An: the(' problem overcome was he harness for the ele- phan's rather large neck, After many designs had been rejected, nsost'y by the elephant, a harness of soft but strong rope was evolt rd which seems to be suc- cessftl. Ar_:l so in parts of north In- dia, ;-articularly in the state of Utta' Pradesh, can be seen the strar c e sight of art' elephant am- bling up and down a field, plowing deep and .straight, while everhead fly jet fighters of the Indian Air Force and along the roads bordering the field ply Indira - manufactured automo- Llp,i riou'r to Prevent Peeking 9.0. 3 av7 2I VWI V51 9d N 1 9 n w s K051 9; `d lz'9.1N 05 ifs 1 N V ala o'2 n 1 A N A a O 3 9 a 0 1 0 9 1 N O N n V J. N 9 0 ■ O V N N i 3 9 1 5 OI V 9 9 3 t3 V I a r9 a 0 n r 0 1 V V 1 biles. It ie, however, a typically Indian picture, fascinating in its Linacltollistn, revealing all the different stages of developtnont through which this country is passing, revealing also a welcome initiative and enterprise in a country short of fuel, short of modern Methods of locomotion and the know-how to keep the wheels turning smoothly, writes Sharokh Sabavala in the Chris- tian Science 1Vlonitor, Apart from this, in modern In- die, where big -gaggle hunting no longer is popular because it is too expensive, there is the prob- lem of what to do with the ris- ing population of pachyderms, In the Himalayan foothills, for in- stanee, the peasantry has grown to dread the wild herds which trample their crops during an- nual migrations from Pithora- garll to the forests of Hardwar, a 500 -mile trek which leaves in its wake devastated fields, brok- en orchards and sometimes de- populated villages, An estimate of wild elephants in this region puts the figure at around 5,000. To catch, tame and use these elephants on the larger co-ope- rative farms in north India is a solution which the government and the local peasantry are try- ing out with considerable skill and perserverance, In the south, the elephant still is in traditional use to haul timber, roll logs into river's and carry merchandise from one market center to an- other. The motorist quite often will see a whole convoy making its stately progress, a picturesque sight, which can grow tiresome when the ''mahout" -driver- of the elephant at the head 'of the convoy has gone to sleep and all the elephants have strayed to the crown of the road, there to stand gazing dreamily at the horizon. To all the hooting, they merely rather disdainfully flap their huge ears, while the "mahout," equally impervious, goes on sleeping. This correspondent, traveling in a baby Fiat by night along the Grand Trunk Road between Del- hi and Calcutta, once crashed in- to an elephant standing motion- less across the road, with disas trous results to his vehicle and very little damage to the ele- phant. The "mahout," as usual, was having his forty winks and so, apparently was the elephant. There are many indians, there- fore, who are more than glad that the noble beast is being put behind the plow. Harry's Club Is Very Exclusive Back in the White House to spend the night for the first time since January 1953, former President Harry Truman found that despite all the redecorating being done by Mrs. Jacqueline Kennedy, his old black baby - grand piano was still on the premises, The Kennedys brought it upstairs from the library for the occasion, After a nostalgic black-tie...dinner (among the guests: Maj. Gen. Harry H. Vaughan, Dean Acheson, John W. Snyder) in the East Room, Truman heard one of his favor-• its pianists (Eugene List) play his favorite music (Chopin's Waltz in A Flat, Opus 42) and then took over at the keyboard himself to' play Paderewski's 'Minuet in G Minor, Truman was i11 .rare form during his visit. He took the time to describe the right-wing John Birch So- ciety as a "Ku Klux outfit with- out night-shirts," and he brought down the house at the National Press Club when he explained: "Mr. (Herbert) Hoover and I have formed a former Presi- dents' association. He's president and I'm secretary. The other fel- low hasn't been taken in yet." WATER TAP - Inspectors 0. Lyfley, right, and R, Brewer have set up a water tap at Sevenoaks, Kent, England, They 'heck leaks or, stoppage in water mains for the water board listerinp to the rush of the liquid through'the pipes. GENUINE PICASSO - This villa, near Velletri, Italy, may not look like a work of art, but it was recently bought and redecorated by the world-famous Pablo Picasso, Located 10 miles from Rome, the house will be his home while in Italy. If entomologists are to control the bugs, they will have to beat them at their own game, If in- sects use genetic tricks to coun- ter insecticides, entomologists will likewise have to use bio- logical subtleties to defeat the pests. Or, to put it in the fora of a question, can men learn to use the insect's reproductive ma- chinery for purposes of insect control. They can and they have. The most celebrated case to date is that of the eradication of the screwworm fly from the southeastern United States. o « * This is a pest whose larvae in- fest cattle, deer, and other ani- mals. It has caused millions of dollars of losses annually in areas it inhabits. Chemicals have afforded little control over the flies. But before World War II, two Department of Agriculture entomologists found the research road that led to an effective means of control. « * 4, They were Dr, Edward F. Knipling, now director of the Department of Agriculture's En- tomology Research Division, and Dr. Raymond Bushland, now taking charge of a new research laboratory being established at Fargo, North Dakota, At first, their concept seemed a wild dream. Theory was clear. But practical means were indis- cernible. In fact, they did not become available until the 1950's. * * * The central idea was simple enough - induce the flies to breed themselves out of. exist- ence. The entomologists had no- ticed that the females mated only once, . while the males ma- ted several tinges. If a female mated with a sterile male, she would produce no offspring. If a significant number of sterile males could be introduced to compete with normal males, rhe fly population in a given area could, theoretically, be drasti- cally reduced, if not eliminated entirely. The question was how to breed sterile males in large enough quantities. The answer was found when scientists working in other fields discovered that doses of X rays or gamma rays can render some insects sterile without otherwise affecting them or their normal behavior. There is not space to tell of the trials due to colleagues' skep- ticism, official indifference, and lack of support that the two en- tomolgists faced for years. Their work often was done on their own time and frequently had to be shelved in favor of more pressing assignments. But with the tool of radioac- tivity in hand, they were ready to answer a call for help when Curacao, in the Netherlands An- tilles, was suffering from a screwworm-fly plague in 1953 0 0 * Ales of an especially sexually active strain were sterilized and released over the island the fol- cawing summer at a rate of 400 per .square mile, Within 14 `weeks, the screwworm fly popu- lation was decimated, This Was a boon to Curacao goatherds, But it was only a 'pilot project for the Knipling- Bushland technique, This was proved out in a massive way in an l8month program in Florida that ended In July, 1959. « «. « The state had been suffering one of the worst screwworm in- festations in its history. A huge fly "factory" was set up which turned out 50,000,000 sterile males per week. These were re- leasted in predetermined pat- terns by a fleet of 20 aircraft. When the program was fin- ished, Florida's screw-worm pop- ulation was nil. 4, 1 Although there is always the possibility of a reinfestation from other areas, quarantine regulations help guard against this. It is believed that no case of screwworm trouble has been reported east of the Mississippi since 1959. Were a fly invasion to occur, the sterile male fac- tory could be reactivated, is * « The work of Drs. Knipling and Bushland has been widely hailed as one of the most important de- velopments ever to come from Department of Agriculture re- search, or from any other agri- cultural research establishment for that matter. Yet it is only a beginning, a first step toward a revolutionary and promising approach to insect control. This is the kind of control that is based on detailed biological knowledge of the species in- volved and that deals with that particular species without dam- aging others. The sterile - male technique looks promising for controlling such other major pests as mos- quitoes and tse-tse flies. But if it should prove impractical, re- search very lkiely could turn up a workable alternative. For example, in some cases it may not be practical or econom- ical to raise sterile males in the quantities required or to distri- bute them properly. But it might be possible to introduce genetic factors into the wild insect pop- ulation that would spread nat- urally throughout the popula- tion and be unfavorable to its survival. * * Or perhaps one could breed and release interracial hybrids that would interbreed freely with the pest species, producing sterile females as offspring. Still another technique might involve the introduction of parasites that would hold down the population of an insect pest to tolerable numbers. The remedies that eventually may be adopted will be mangy and varied. But they will all stem from the astute applica- tion of a thorough knowledge of the biology and ecology of the insects themselves. 4. It has been difficult in the past to muster enthusiasm for this approach, which requires years of basic research that must be continuously supported whe- ther an insect pest is in evidence or not, The tendency has been to ne- glect this kind of ,research and then to apply poison sprays in a panic when an emergency arose, If men are really to achieve ef- fective pest control without de- structive side effects, they can- not afford such a lack of vision any longer. Hyenas Are No Laughing Matter; Is the hyena, that strange un- to v el y animal whose howl sounds like the laugh of a ma- niac, slowly dying out? Will his so-called laugh - one of the weirdest and most dreadful sounds in nature .- be stilled before the end of this century? Some naturalists who have recently returned from Africa think so, Roaming areas where earlier this century these shaggy -haired ungainly creatures were com- paratively plentiful, they lis- tened vainly for the hyena's cry* - a scream, high-pitched and palpitating - which he utters in moments of excitement, espe- cially when he sees that his food is near at hand. Hyenas will attack a sleeping man, but by and large they are cowards at heart. Naturalist Cherry Kearton, who hated using his rifle ex- cept when necesary, once de- clared that there was something so loathsome about the hyena that he felt no compunction in killing it. Kearton called the hyena "the graveyard of the African na- tive." Ile found it was the ter- rible custom in Central Africa, if a native was very ill and likely to die, to put him or her in a hut on the outskirts of a village - and then make a hole for a hyena to get through. In those days the dead in that area were never buried. An argumentative man sat next to a clergyman on a bus. He said, "Pm not going to heaven because there is no heaven." "Well, then," replied the clergyman, "go to hell, but be quiet about it" UNDAY SCoo) LESSON 13y! Rev. 11. s;arelay Warren B,A., 13,D. Growth Through Witnessing. Acts 4; 13.21 A witness about anything mus, know the matter first-hand and be willing to communicate that knowledge. A witness for Christ must know Christ. Hearsay will not be effective. He must have an urge to share this knowledge, Just before His ascension, Jesus said to His disciples, "You will receive power when the Holy Spirit conies upon you; and you will bear witness for me,-" Acts 2:8, Here is the secret of wit- nessing as is readily seen in the history of the early church fol- lowing the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. The Memory Selec- tion expresses the attitude of those who are filled with the Spirit. It is, "We cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard." Acts 4:20. It is an inspiring story. The disciples were indeed the light of the world and the salt of the earth as Jesus charged them to be in IIis Sermon on the Mount. But they used words, too. They were bold in presenting their testimony of Jesus Christ. God sanctioned their teaching with miraculous signs such as the healing of the lame man at the gate of the temple. The disciples grew as they wit- nessed. They were fervent in prayer for the conviction and conversion of their fellowmen. Their preaching was evangelistic. They urged people to make the choice of Jesus Christ as Saviour and Lord now, The pulpits of our day spend too much time in the edification of the saints. The saints would need less nursing if they were devoted to the task of making more saints, They were keen in evangelistic visitation. They went from house to house to win the people to present, positive faith in Jesus Christ; and then to build them up in the faith. They were enthusiastic about the task of witnessing. A Christian must have exercise if he is to grow. And witnessing is the finest of exercise. The world needs our witness. Let us as Christians, be fully consecrat- ed and filled with the Spirit, that Jesus Christ may gain dominion in the lives of more people, ISSUE 47 - 1961 CROSSWORD PUZZLE ACROSS 1. Change direction (naut) L Gear wheel. tooth 8. Russian emperor 12. Century plant 13. Swiss canton 19. Air (comb. form) 16. Mendicant 17. Helper 10. Sap. coin 20. Dwarf 22. Sward 23. Metric l2.nd measure 26. Insect 26. Thus 57. Pithy 80. Between (prefix) 83. Type measure - 84. Hind of sausage 36. Function 37. Loafed 89. Flesh of deer 41. Man's nickname 42. Swamp 43. Note of the scale 44. Conditions 46. Artistic nqualltY 48. American republic (ab.) 61, Kind of oloth 63. Drug yielding plant 55. Supplication 66. Name meaning wn tehful 69. Nerve network 69. Vehicle on runners 60. Male child 61, War god 6. Correlative 31. Self of either 32. King Arthur's 7. Large man lance 8, personContemptible 36. Flowering 9. Fanatic Plant 10. Eng. 38. Tenant composer 40. Complement 11. List of a cup 16. While 42. The end 18, That thing 44. Demons 21. Expose 45. Containing 24. Garbed all possible DOWN 28, mollusk d 46 47. Six DOWN 1. Shoe latohets 37. Hawaiian 4➢, Glut gg Sheltered wreath 60. Playing cards 8. Kind of 28. Also 62. Boy brandy 29. Incline the 54, Period 4. Small barrel head 67. Artificial 6. Shorten 20. Tavera language ©.■.:•:•iiaua ®■■.. ..■1111 :rilli111..11 .1111 ■®111111 r:�.;s,�111■■ 1116111111111111111141111111111111 11111111©ll.':e%©ll1..1d■11. ®11111111111.ri:®111111111.111 ki11■x:::111®111N11111111111 Answer elsewhere on this page LOOKOUT ABOVE -Progress has caught up with fo✓st fire lookouts, which once were crude wooden, walk-up affairs, Now, in addition to running water, electric stoves and other conveniences, a new tower near Melaka, Ore., features an electric elevator. The 145 -foot steel tower, maintained by a fire patrol association of forest landowners, over- looks tree farm lands of Crown Zellerbach Corp, In close-up at right, Eugene Jacobson, assistant district warden, takes off on the long ride to the top of the lookout tower.