The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1939-04-28
WHO'S
NEWS
THIS
WEEK
By LEMUEL r. PARTON

Plant Wizard to writer found
Brazil to GroIv Brazil borrow
Good,y;J1 Er,,;s ing Walter Ten
nyson Swingle,
Americas 68-year-old plant wizard,
in a unique and friendly deal which
probably will ring more cash regis
tiers than would Mussolini if he
swallowed all the Balkans in one
gulp.
Busy all over the world for 40
years or more, Mr.. Swingle has
created enough new wealth with his
plant conjuring to build stable
battle fleet. Brazil, getting on Uncle
Sans cuff for $120, 1000, 900, breaks
precedent among debtor nations by
Immediately getting busy in long
range effort to set up a favorable
trade balance and get square with
the export-import bank. She thinks
Mr.. Swingle can show her how to
grow many things which we urgent
ly need. Furthermore, she intends
to become entirely independent of
aggressor nations, not by ersatz or
by strong-arm economy, but by
scientific utilization Of her natural
resources in soil and climate. Mr..
Swingle departs for Brazil with the
sanction and cooperation of the
department of agriculture. His ex-
penses are paid by the Brazilian
government.
Tung oil trees, rubber and
quinine will get Mr.. Swingle's
immediate attention. Brazil
thinks that, with some expert
coaching by Mr.. Swingle, she
can bring all these through as
negotiable assets in interest or
amortization day. 1t looks to
this observer like a sunny break
in the blizzard of screwball eco
Monies which has been sweeping
over the world. The above will
be Just a starter. Mr.. Swim
gle's research will cover virtual
ly the entire range of Brazilian
agriculture and forestry.
A native Of Pennsylvania, bota-
mist, educated at the Kansas State
agricultural college, he became an
agricultural explorer" for the Unit
w, -, ed States gov
4 oured W0Tt0 eminent in 1902
In Search of working in near
Plants for u. S. " every coun-
try in the world.
He brought Egyptian cotton to Ari-
IONA and Acala cotton to California,
and helped establish the date indus
try in the latter state. In Florida,
he achieved miracles of hybridiza-
ton in citrus fruits. He added inn
measurably to the knowledge of pol
lenization, hoped up the seeing
power of the microscope, and, in
French, German, and English, wrote
authoritative treatises on plant
pathology, cytology, taxonomic bot
any and citrus propagation. His
fame is widely International and he
is member of every important SCI
entific society in his field.
A homespun American, he is
as chubby as suburban garden
er, exchanging garden lore over
the back fence with his neigh
Dor. His export Of ideas and
seeds and cuttings has yielded
vastly more goodwill and tangi-
BILE wealth than our exports Of
scrap iron, and his imports have
rum up into billions.
TWO years ago, it appeared that
= John Logic Baird, the mop-haired
garnet inventor who took the lead in
British television, was running Sec
Sunset Red and ventc j The
Morning Gray; postmaster gen.
A Start On Way s sraa s snle ID
picking the Marconi- Emf system for
the British Broadcasting corpora
ton. But now his system is work.
ing in London motion picture thea
tiers and his representatives are here
to install it in several Broadway
houses.
The SON Of q Scottish country
pars0n, in an old tweed coat and :
Stacks, he lived meagerIy in a
dark soho attic and worked with
q set of carpenters tools, vac
uum tube and few magnets,
with no results. When he start
ed thinking his way through a
problem, he went to bed. He
had been in bed a couple of
weeks, when, almost despairing,
he saw red sunset through the
window. That suggested a take
off from the infra-red zone Of u
the spectrum. On February 3,
1928, he flashed picture across
the ocean, ghost face Pickering
ON the wall Of the dark cellar Of
A. M. Hart, Of Hartsdale, N. Y.
In the old days, his trousers were
patched, his hair was a brush heap,
and he usually had one sock droop-
ing. Now, as president of Baird
Television, Ltd, he is slicked up
lot. and, according to all accounts,
is becoming magnate. Sunset
A.