The Birmingham age-herald., 1918-08-19
MEN, WOMEN
 AND THINGS

Some six months or more ago I met my friend J. o. Thompson on the street and asked him what was new in the farming world, for .he keeps abreast of all that is being done by progressive farmers.
 1 In kind of cryptic way he uttered, "castor beans" l, at first, thought he was kidding me; but soon he had me going, for I saw that I was on the eve of learning about new money crop ] for the south.
 Can you conceive it? An output of l 2,000,0O0 gallons of castor oil is pre-
 dicted, not by the agricultural but by
 the war department; and thereby hangs a taIe-not the tail of a kite-but how 1 it was doped out that it was the de- spised dose of the children which was going to make the Liberty motor fly. l This war has brought about some strange things. but nothing funnier to
 me than that the despised castor bean | is touted to win the air battle for the American birdmen over the German yultures of the sky, because castor oil has been found to be the ideal lubri- cant for motors.
 l Now, Joe Thompson told me that he {, had been in consultation with govern ment representatives who were in Ala
 bama to arrange for the planting, if
 remember correctly, of 10000 acres of
 castor beans. If I am not mistaken.
 the chief seat of the industry in the
 state is at Dothan, and friend George
 Malone, the banker-farmer. is father
 ing 1t. l Awhile back I made a trip in jit- lney from Eufaula to Dothan. and fields
 of peanuts, velvet beans and corn lined
 the road, but by nearly every farm
 house was from one to 10 acres of
 castor beans. They were to the right of me and to the left of me, and saw
 that the industry was no joke, but a
 war measure.
 I
 Now, nearly every boy who was
 reared in south Alabama will remem- Iber a few scattered castor bean plants out near the lot or down in the gullies, and how some of the older women
 prized them for their medicinal quali-
 ties; but how every lad in the bottom
 of his heart loathed the sight of them,
 and almost held his nose as he passed
 the hated plants, which suggested the ,.awfullest" dose in all the world. | After Joe Thompson told me about
 the need of castor oil. every time spoke on food conservation where there was a bunch of children in the au- dience, I would say: Now, Uncle Sam
 expects everybody to make some sacri- lfice, and I want you children to prom. l ise me that you will not take any more
 castor oil than you have to. as it is needed for the Liberty motors" Then , would ask for show of hands for
 those who were willing to quit taking ' it until the war was over, and If the grown ups had shown any such nnan-
 imity in conserving sugar and flour as ' the little ones did about castor oil it would be easy sailing for Hoover. heard of a father who, when he 1had to give his boy a dose of castor
 oil it meant a whipping or quarter,
 but one morning he called his name sake into the bathroom and. pouring out liberal dose of the greasy. yellow fluid handed it to the victim who. in
 stead of tuning up or holding him up reached out and grasped it and. with
 smiling face. said; Here's to the Kai-
 ser; may he have to drink every nasty 1 drink in the world"
 l We'll, did any of the other stAtet
 plant any castor beans! At the bureau
 of aircraft production in washingtoy lit Is said that los.ooo acr9s have beer
 planted, and 1t is expected that tn,
 first supply of the crop will begin te come in by september l. India produced
 30 per cent Of the beans used in thi' country bsfors the war. They did Il