The Birmingham age-herald., 1922-08-11

Pinnts Grow By Wireless
 The greatest broad-casting radio station is the sun and It's distance of s3,000,000 miles does not seem 10 bother or overtax it's sending appar- atus in reaching the earth. All plant life are creatures of the air and sun; and while we fuss and fume about fertilizers and soil fertility, the soil, after all, contributes only an in- fintessimal small element to plant life, yet, 1t is absolutely essential. The mineral elements contributed by the soil Is represented In the ash, the balance of the plant Is the stored energy of the sun. We need gasoline to run our automobiles, but what is gasoline but bottled sunshine? We burn coal and wood to radiate the suns heat. without which there would be no life. If you project tho suns rays through a prism on suitable screen, you observe all the colors of the rainbow, red. orange, yellow green, blue. indigo and violet. It Is the chemical reaction or dis turbance caused by these ether wa res that cause plants to make growth and store up the needed energy for all forms of life; thus establishing the cycle of life that is to say, plants eat what animals produce and pro- duce what animals eat. No wonder there are sun worshippers.
 Beardless Barley Pasture
 When you suggest barley to a farmer he generally demurs on ac- count of the objectionable long, sharp pointed boards that tsoccur when the plant natures or heads out This objection should disappear in any consideration of the beardless types. In the past, the beardless barleys were spring barleys. They could only be sown in the spring, as they were not sufficiently resistant to cold weather to SOW in the fall; but they arc now southern grown winter types, while not as hardly as rye or wheat, they are really more resis- tant to cold than oats and are there fore perfectly safe in Alabama. The great advantage of barley is that 1t grows more rapidly than rye, pro- cuces broader and more foliage and is much more readily consumed by all classes Of live stock and fowls. To succeed well. the soil should be fer tile and thorough preparation made before planting. It may be sown any time from now on. the earlier the better. particularly if wanted as pasture in mid winter. Two bushels should be sown to the acre when sown alone. It is profitable to SOW in mixture of oats, rye, wheat or any combination for pasturage.
 Growing Too Much Corn
 Economists and some government experts have sounded a warning to the northwestern farmer that he IS growing too much corn. Formerly the surplus corn was utilized by cattle feeders to fatten Canadian grown yearlings and steers. The cattle were bought in Canada, driven across or shipped into corn growing sections, fattened and resold at a good profit. In this way. any corn surplus was converted into profitable price. The resent tariff schedule before the Senate fixes a tariff of 2 cents pound on live cattle from Canada. The corn farmers of the northwest protest that this will destroy the feeding industry and I believe it will. But If the corn farmer knows this, why has he so recently combined with organized labor in those sec- tionS 10 put only republicans Tn oI- flee? There are some things about tariffs sand politics that are un- fathomable and this is only one of many ldicrous situations. There is always, of course. more or less sin ister motives behind such measures but to find the "nigger in the wood pile" requires real talent.
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