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Zurich Herald, 1953-03-05, Page 3Will Penicillin Solve Food $hot r.. e? it began in Paddington when Sir Alexander Fleming noticed that the green mould called peni- c+illiuni stepped bacterial growth in bacterial cultures. It went oil to Oxford, where another great British scientist, Morey, extrac- ted what we tow know as peni- cillin from the various substances produced when the green mould grows, And from there, because there was a war on, it passed to tne United States, who had the technical capacity to develop large-scale methods for produc- ing the new miracle drug, peni- cillin. •Other moulds wore studied. Could they, too, produce differ- ent anti - bacterial chemicals? Hundreds and hundreds of Moulds were put to jest. A new chapter in medicine unfolded. There carne streptomycin, baci- tracin, Chloromycetin, terramy- cirt. . But antibiotics, as these mould - derived drugs are known, have more to offer mankind than their ability to combat infection. Waste products from penicillin rnanufacure were tried out as animal foods. The growth of the animals was noticeably greater. Tests were,:made with penicillin and other antibiotics; mere traces wereaddedto food for pigs and poultry. Again the rate of growth of the animals was ab- normal, To -day, in the United States it is the widespread practice for farmers to give these supple- ments to the diet of pigs arid. poultry -though in Britain the idea is still the subject of official research. Now there is a very new story about antibiotics, and it. may be the most important of all. It i. this -antibiotics can make plants grow faster and bigger! This far-reaching discovery was announced in the United States at the recent .annual meeting of the Institute of Biological Sci- ences. Four years of research have t•esultecl in this highly im- portant claim. Nature's Hidden Secret Seeds of ordinary corn were grown under glass in two identical beds. The• only differ- ence was that one crop was treat- ed with water containing five . parts per million no more than that! --of terramycin. The other bed received the same amount of •srdinary water. The plants after four weeks were twenty-five per Mak Pretty Shower Curtains at Home Made at tlutne in less than an boar, the shower curtain is hung. fIeading, complete with eyelets. was ironed to the 'plastic .and two widths of the firm were sealed together with tem.. Br EDNA MILES D you ever think about LI making your o .511,0wer curtains?. 1t can E "'',Afoirii'jll less than an hour's•bligt vititjl_ very little effo]'1 • ea- knowledge. lly knowledge. The only materials you'll need are about four yards of vinyl plas- tic film which is available in most department stores at about 39 cents a yard,• your electric iron, a light press cloth and two new plastic tapes. The first tape is one and one - hail inches wide. it has a coating of adhesive vinyl that mattes pos- sible a tight bond with a light application of heat. It is used as a heading 'for the shower curtain and comes complete with inset metal eyelets: • The heading is fairly heavy gauge but transparent so that it will reinforce the curtain top with - nut obscuring the color and pat- tern of the Material. The second 'tape, also transpar- ent, is three fourths of an inch wide and is 'used for seaming the plastic film. This tape has the same adhesive quality and will bond with the film easiIy under your iron which should be turned lo "rayon" or "roar setting. A perfect bond between heading and vinyl film is made by pressing the two together With an electric iron at "low," or "rayon." setting, nsing a,, ttbin press cloth. cent. taller and 100 per teat. heavier. as a result of the terra- mycin treatment.- Also, forty per 'cent. of the treated seeds germin- ated while only • twenty -rive per cent. of the other seeds did so. Bigger and tally: plants were also grown when sorrel and pan- eies were treated with traces of this antibiotic. But for radishes penicillin was used ---traces were. mixed into the soil before the seeds were sown, When gathered the radish plants were more than twice the size of plants grown from identical seed i.n ordinary soil! It is too eerie to realize the Lull importance of this discovery. There must be much more re- search before antibiotic treatment for crops can be safely advised. •How, to grow enough food for future generations is. the world's gravest and:' biggest problem. And here is yet another way of get- ting greater crops, of making an acre of land produce more food. Science hasnot perhaps invent- ed something new, but has un- earthed yet another of Nature's hidden secrets. A serious pest of sweet corn in southern Ontario and southern Quebec, the corn borer larva. is a flesh -colored worm about one inch long when fully grown and marked with rows of small brown spots. Borer damage in the field is first indicated by broken or bent tassels. Stalks may be so heavily infested, they break at various points and collapse. Holes in the stalks and fine, sawdust - like castings oir leaf surfacesare other superficial clues. For successful control of the in- sect, some knowledge of its life history is required. Knowing something of its egg -laying hab- its is particularly important since insecticide application is tinned with the period eggs hatch. Win- ter is spent in the borer stage in corn stalks, stubble or field weeds, In late May or early June the borer changes into the pupal stage from which a moth emerges • several weeks later. In the Mari- times the cycle occurs three 10 four weeks later. Eggs are laid in clusters of up to 25 at about the end of June, They- are the size of a pin head, pearly -white in color and disc- like in shape. Laid on the under- side of a corn leaf, they resem- ble a mass of minute fish scales. When eggs hatch, the small borers feed on the leaf for a few days before boring into the stalk. They must be destroyed during this period. Timing of the first application is important. The eggs hatch over a period of three to tour weeks, so more than one application is necessary. Four applications at five-day intervals are recom- mended. DDT, rotenone or ryarlia, in dust or spray form, will con- ' c s © ORr PUZZLE ACRosS 1. r,ereetive 4. !'titled apart 4 I.nw tufted plant 12 :Mika: Mgtt pries' 13. Was indebted 1 4. Opet, QPllt't is +.er;fern: fluid 16. Mutter 1 1. More i!aII Id �n.Sueae 21, SOV or Adatn da. [,tubi) again 2.i. Danger V. Stender /info' 23. Flying mammal 3t. Church les ttYa1 38. ('ltnixh by a. flus 45..Fettisie ettinl (ab.l 86. Title Of tt Int ig ht 21 l.lnbnT wall nt 1) well 39. 'I r ee with. enlverenx Leaven 41. Oozy 404112 It. rlut in tete slfee' A2. Mfnnt+t ar- gentine et. aov>?reirre df. Tree 51. 'eratdtt ptsat 814 Arreie 114.. shear. 52. '.trial 58. ADneceN1 87, R yrtian a'n' or the earth DOWN 1.tntp[nre 2. wine 8. Si'aiter 4. Labor 8. Proprietor' B. In)pertect paper T. DuIc1• corn• InUne 29 Ltigh card 30 Portable shelter 8. Farrar 32. 'fear on a N. Native meta le ss4a•u 11). Ancient social 14. 1 olCana, Unit of Irelan,t : r. Send part,: 29 Vi'at'd ort tn. C'atnanq 42 (.oc•utie's 13 Abiding place 44. 1,12:1o' half Ye; 48 74dinaa 13, (nines* pagoda ae Re uituuted 21. 1.swteae orar4•d 11.C,ttH 17 F rearm: ra th e dial eery t9, Dismounted 21. t°opfac 22. Throb 24 Mineral epreng 26, 111111'404,h 2O 7:i.''r> of fl til it ate l4• • 141eleeei 41.,:041444:4 Al,' IlAtAleri eco i"531» _'" • .� .....- ...:.14 ,1 ,Fal Tin -Con .le' -Harry Cassidy, right, above, shows his model jet engine, built of stovepipe and fin cans, to science teacher William 8, Sanford. The 18 -year-old toy built the machine in the school's physics'lclb in after-school 1?,e,iirs.: He used -the cut away- diagram of a Westinghouse1-34 let, • en blackboard, to guide him, fro] the corn hexer successful- ly if used according to recom- mendations and. precautions -on the 'manufacturers,' labels. A specialized group of • scien- tists has one of the most impor- tant tasks in Canada today ee that of looking after the health of our soil. By diagnosing: soil ailments and prescribing treat- • merit, . these. soil -chemists. have a big hand in the maintenance. of national health by helping keep the productivity of the land at a maximum. It took many centuries for Alan • to realize that growing crops exp tracted plant foods from the soil;" that when een crops were harvested or. eaten by. livestock, these nue trients were lost to the- soil; that in order to harvest a vigorous. crop from the same soil, plant foods such as nitrogen, phosphor.- us, potassium, calcium and rnag- ncsitlm had to be placed back. w 1, To determine the identity and amount of plant foods in which soil is deficient, a soil test at least every three years has become almost an essential part of mo- dern farm practice, Both federal and provincial departments of agriculture and various big in- dustrial firms have soil testing laboratories, the services of which are available lo farmers without charge. a O Agricu twists whose crops are not thrifty under average weather conditions no longer need to grope in the dark for reasons and cures for such un- ' thriftnrss, They should avail thernselves of the free soil test- ing services at their disposal as quickly as possible, After all, when a person is sick he or she goes to a medical doctor. When a soil is sick it too should be ex- amined arnined --" by a soil "doctor." While 'people do not usually: talk about them, bed bugs are .still a common household pest in both rural and urban homes. A.lth.ough their activities quiet down somewhat during winter ltiornt r, they are not entirely dormant - as many owners of cell -heated houses will testify, ;: 4: t: Early control of beet bugs in- cluded the use of kerosene, sul- phur fumes and, at the turn of the century, cyanide gas. But it was not until the discovery of DDT that a convenientway of killing these pests was devel- oped. at 1 According to J. A. Oakley, en- . toinologist, the most economic and effective way. of bed bug • control today is the use of a five per. cent DDT oil spray or a 10.- .per 0-per cent DDT dust. The spray should be applied lightly but thoroughly around bedsteads, mattresses, springs and other furniture suspected of being in- fested. Cracks, mouldings, mop boards, windows, door sills and other possible hiding places should also receive the treat- ment. The residual spray should last at least rix months. Ornamental trees can be our friends for a lifetime if given proper nourishment and constant "medical" care. Like other plants, trees extract nutrients from the soil and will net furnish if these plant foods are not placed back in the soil. to the sandy soil at Ottawa, for instance, young deciduous trees respond very well to a quick - acting fertilizer containing 10 per cent nitrogen, sir per cent phosphorus and four per cent potash - applied in the spring. For older deciduous trees a diet • of 9-5-7 fertilizer has proven to be most satisfactory. This ap- plied in spring at the rate of two ' JITTER ar?ER FELL OFF A BRIDGE ANDtANDEO ON A epee* SAILBOAT. HE'S b SAILOR. Now weerese 145 t,llelr5 IT OR N01'. NOW gee. eve oolua%9 ser FAY WI1Rr 7HAr wi"D WIN rs,S r;rACE we W(t t 2 1)rlt. S5 aOMR.. 'lllN6 So1251 055 pounds to each 'inch of trunk diameter at four• feet above the ground. Where a 9-5-7 mixture is not available, 10-6-4 or 9.9-7 should be satisfactory at the same rate.` 0 A * For the evergreens in the same region, organic fertilizers at two to three pounds per inch of trunk diameter are more suitable. In- organic high nitrogen fertilizer can be applied successfully if used in conjunction with leaf mould or other decomposing or- ganic matter. As the object is to teed trees rather than the grass, fertilizer should be put down where feed- ing roots can get -at it, writes It. Warren, Oliver, of the Central Experimental Farm, Ottawa, in the February issue • of C -I -L. Oval, The usual method, he says, is. to. turn back flaps of sod with, a sharp spade and made holes in 'the soil 12 to 15 inches deep with a crowbar. The correct amount of fertilizer is ,placed in the holes and covered with earth before the sod is turned back. Holes are made in a, concentric circle 10 to 24 Inches, apart in the outer area covered by the, spread of the braches. d , ,7 0 To control a variety of insects attacking ornamental trees, mo- dern chemical insecticides such as nicotine, DDT and lead ar- senate should be used accord- ing to directions shown on con- tainer labels. IT WORKED An irate mother marched up to the credit department of a big toy store a few days after Christ- mas and complained, "This water gun you sold nae is no good. Maybe it was broken in transit." She pointed the gun at the credit manager, pulled the trigger and promptly caught him sgquarely in the eye with a stream of purple ink. "That's funny," she mused. "It didn't work yester- day." UNMY SCIIOOL LESSON By ftev. h. Barclay Warren B. A., 13. D. . .Jesus Urges Alertness Matthew 25:1-13 Memory Selection: Watch ye, stand fast in the faith, quit you: like men, be strong. 1 Corin- thians 151:13. In our lesson we have a pic- ture of a wedding in Orient setting. Ten pure maidens ex- pected to join the procession as the Bridegroom drew near. These virgins differed in that rive o1 them carried no extra oil in their lamps. Since the hour of the bridegroom's arrival was not known they all ,became drowsy and went to sleep. Suddenly at midnight the call was heard„ "Behold, the bridegroom cometh go ye out to meet him." The cru- cial hour had come. The five foolish virgins found their tamps to be going out and they had no extra oil. The wise virgins had not enough to share with them„ They must go to the regular source and buy. And when they were gone to buy the bride- groom came and they were shut out from the marriage feast, It is an awful warning. Spirit- ual possessions are not trans- ferable. Many of us have sought to help others in the hour of their testing, but we have found we could not light the tamp of , endurance or faith or hope for them. We have stood at the graveside with the bereaved and have tried- to pass on the oil of inner peace, which we ourselves had won through the faith and sorrow of Many years, but could not do so. We cannot in a mom- ent hand over our faith, our courage, our .peace, our inner re- sources. All men must go foe themselves to the unlimited Source. If we cannot stand the tests . of life we certainly are not. pre- pared for the great hour ot. e Lord's return. The lamp of`jlro•- fession will not be enougle ferr that fateful hour. We must faire the Holy Spirit abiding in aur hearts, .cleansing and purifying • our nature and empowering ug to live the victorious life in a sinful world. Many shallow pro- fessing Christians will find the door closed and hear the word from Jesus Christ, "I know you not" Watch therefore, for ye know neither the clay nor the hour wherein the Scn of man cometh. Upsidedown to Prevent Peeking 1500 t wpm MWO ]p VQN 3 J . ,< MEM 3A -HS ©.lrQ a 9 1 3 N w 2Y '736' V Mechanical Nursemaids -Mrs. Silas t"inkham looks forward to mealtime, as she can get a few minutes' rest while her seven- month -old quadruplets nurse from the mechanical bottle holders, above. There's just one thing wrong with them. They won't "burp" the babies, By Arthur Pointer r r NAP`' ' qt r OoL LY, THE yr MAW HALYALP t MUST 83'WE ^SOO/r.rN. X! O.K. NOW DO EXACTLY WHAT X TOW> You? 1, VOU'Rg" DOING FINE', JlTrER,THEY CAN t c*Ar DS NOW.4