Newspapers / Watauga Democrat (Boone, N.C.) / May 9, 1957, edition 1 / Page 13
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ip Miss McCain To | Go To Indonesia Greensboro, N. C, April 2T— Kits Madeleine McCain. iUisUnt professor of health lit Woman'* College, Km received afi appoint ment in the secretariat of the World Health Organization. She will be on a two-.vear assignment as Health Education Advisor to the Ministry of Health of the In dobesian Government and will be stationed in Jakarta. Indonesia Mlaa McCain was employed a number of years with the District Health Department here, and with Appalachian State Teacher* Col; lege. Mil* McCain has beeen granted a leave of absence from WC and will fly to Geneva. Switxerland, en June 18 for an orientation period at the WHO office there. Daring this period she will be provided with material on {he project and will be given background informa tion on Indonesia. Te Act A* Advisor Miss McCain's responsibilities in Indonesia will center a.-ound ad vising and assisting the govern ment in developing and expanding their health education program. Miss McCain has been on the faculty of WC aince September 1953. She received her A B. from East Carolina College and receiv ed her master's in public health from the School of Public Health at the University of North Caro lina. Mil* McCain i* a fellow of the American Public Health Aasocla tion and the Society of Public Health Educators. She is a native of Waxhaw. Witchweed New Farm Parasite North Carolina State College and the V. S. Department of Agri culture are looking to farmers for help in locating and stamping out any new infestations of witch weed—a destructive parasite of corn, sorghum and other plants, mostly grasses which grow in the summer. Drs. Glenn Klingman and Rich ard R. Nelson of State College describe witchweed as a harmless looking plant usually about eight Inches high with small orange redish flowers and slightly hairy leaves. Pound last year in several counties of both North and South Carolina, this is believed to be the first time it has invaded the West ern Hemisphere. But the highly destructive weed pest can easily be spread by means of its tiny seeds (roughly 1-20 to 1-19 the size of tobacco seed). The seeds have the ability to remain dormant but alive for a number of years, according to the two scientists. One plant can produce up to half a million aeed. Witchweed attaches itself to the roots of susceptible plants, reduc ing and stunting their growth. Af fected plants appear to be suffer ing from severe drought—they are stunted, yellowish and wilted. Corn yields in some infested fields in the Carolina* last year were complete failures. Here are some suggestions from State College and the USDA about how to prevent witchweed from spreading to new areas: Look for a weed that answers the description of witchweed. es pecially If corn, sorghum or Sum mer grasses show unexplainable stunting. The weed would be growing very close to affected plants. Get in touch with your county sgrlcultural agent if you think you have found witchweed growing in your vicinity. He can arrange for positive identification and can suggest measures for con trol. Do not move witchweed plants or seed from your field, since by doing so you could easily spread the pest. As a preventive measure, do not bring or ship hay, nursery plants, bulbs or root eroos from an in fested area. Even farm machinery or equipment, or used boxes and crates can carry the tiny seeds. Such equipment should be thoroughly cleaned before used if brought from an erea in which witchweed is growing. Up to this time, witchweed has been found only in Bladen. Colum bus, Cumberland, and Robeson Counties in North Carolina, and Dillon. Horry, Marion, and Marl boro Counties in South Carolina. The pest was identified last summer by Howard R. Oarrias, In eharce of plant pathology for the N. C. Agricultural Extension Ser vice. It has been associated prin | cioally with soils containing large amounts of sand. Agricultural scientists are hard at work trying to find out Just what plants witchweed attacka and the copd'tlons which favor tt* rrowth The N C Agricultural Experiment Station at State Col lege has a total of a*ven acre* rented near Evergreen, in Colum
Watauga Democrat (Boone, N.C.)
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May 9, 1957, edition 1
13
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