Balsams May Survive Aphids
Blue Ridge Balaams may
yet outgrow the death grip of
the Balsam Woolly Aphida.
Not really Aphida at all, the
tiny pin-bead size creatures
have been killing the giant
trees along the Blue Ridge
Parkway and adjacent lands
for two decades. But now a
?dentist sees hope for the
future of the Balsam firs.
The Balsams, specifically
Fraser fir, came here from
die far north ahead of the
glacier eons ago. They had
been revered by man for
centuries before the white
man gazed on them.
Localities bear the Balsam
name ? Balsam Gap,
Richland Balsam, Black
Balsam and more.
Many are now asking
whether the malady that
seems to be growing
progressively worse will wipe
out the Balsams, the Fraser
fir, the "he-Balsams" as were
the American chestnuts in
this century.
There are individual trees
that seem to be immune to the
attack of the Balsam Woolly
Aphids, says Dr. Garrett A.
Smathers of Canton, a
biologist at Western Carolina
University for the National
Park Service.
"This may be an interesting
phase of ecology," Smathers
said. The biggest, most
beautiful Balsams seem
particularly susceptible to
attack. That's plain to visitors
who worry about the dying
lovelies.
"But there are some of
those older trees that are
surviving," the reseracher
W.N.C. Lung
Association
Holds Meeting
The annual meeting of WNC
Lung Association was held on
April 22 in the governor's
western residence.
Mrs. Nancy Gate wood was
elected president to succeed
Mrs. Debs Ditt and other of
ficers nominated in a slate
presented by Dr. Ozmer
Henry as nominating commit
tee chairman w4r* the Rev.
David Cox, president elect;
Mrs. Colleen Miller, second
rice president; James
Pressley, first vice president;
and Lib Baker of Walnut,
secretary.
A budget of approximately
980,000 for the fiscal 197W0
year was adopted. This budget
is several thousand dollars
lower than the 1978-79 budget,
so some belt-tightening is call
ed for.
In addition to the dissolution
of WNC Lung Association,
various legal matters in con
nection with change-over to
American Lung Association of
North Carolina Western
Region were taken care of.
A program of work for
1979-80 was presented by Ger
trude Ramsey, program
director, in the absence of
Robert Cannoles, committee
chairman, and was adopted.
The association areas of con
cern are pediatric lung
disease, adult lung disease,
environmental health, smok
ing education and community
health services.
Mrs. Leonard (Lib) Baker
of Walnut and Mrs. Jim (Bill)
Story of Marshall are
members of the board of
directors.
? DAVIS, sod of Mr.
and Mrs. Earl Davis, of
Smith field, Va., and grandson
?( Mr. and Mra. Tubie Norton,
el Route 8, Marshall, has
from Old Dominion
Norfolk, Va., with
in Electrical
says. "They arc giving us a
gene pool, and by biological
evolution, the spedea may
survive." Theae trees that
Men to be survivors in the
Balsam Woolly Aphids war
spread their seeds to give
birth to what is hoped may be
a new and resistant strain.
"Many colleagues don't
share my opinion," Dr.
Smathers admits. But he can
point to tiny new Balsams Just
starting life in the unusual
climate of the higheat ridges.
And he can show growing
trees he can't encircle with
his hands growing well in the
midst of older, dying ones.
Concern of scientists and
visiting lovers of nature along
the parkway isn't for just a
few trees but for a unique
species that grows only in a
less than 200-mile long area
from southern Virginia
through southwestern North
Carolina. While these trees
growing at the highest
elevations of the Appalachian
and Blue Ridge are related to
the Canadian and northern
state's Balsam firs, there is a
difference that sets these
apart.
Balsam Woolly Aphid was
Angel Heads
Recreation
Commission
The Madison County
Recreation Commission
elected new officers for the
coming year at its May 3
meeting. Dr. G rover Angel
was selected to fill the post of
chairman, taking the place of
Dr. Bobby Jean Rice who will
continue her service to the
commission as vice chairper
son. The commission also
discussed plans for the sum
mer program with director
Kevin Morley.
Morley described prepara
tions for softball leagues, the
swimming pool, summer
centers, and the Summer
Olympics. He also informed
the commission that he hoped
to organize an "anything
goes" competition which has
been a popular countywide
event in the past.
The Softball season will
start on June 4 with a pre
season tournament. The pool
hopefully will be open soon
after school closes, and the
summer centers will begin
operation around June 18. A
complete schedule of summer
activities will be published at
a later date.
County
Addresses
Checked
Workers for the U.S. Census
Bureau are now compiling
house-by-house address lists
in Madison County.
"The purpose of the address
listing program is to compile
a complete list of households
in the county for use next
year when the 1900 census
questionnaire will be mailed
to each residence," said Ms.
Mary Garris, census office
manager in Charlotte.
Census workers will be
walking or driving on streets
and roads in the county to
prepare the address lists.
They will be knocking on
doors and asking
householders for a correct
mailing address.
Ms. Garris said residents
can identify the census em
ployees by a red, white and
blue census identification
card which all will carry.
Census workers also will
carry 11 inch by 16 inch books
or address registers in which
the addresses are written.
These address lists will play
a vital role in the nationwide
1980 census. They will be used
to produce mailing labels for
the census questionnaires.
Census Day is April 1, 1900.
TUCHMAN ELECTED
NEW YORK (AP) - Author
historian Barbara W. Tuchman
has been elected president of
the American Academy and In
state of Arts and Letters.
introduced from Europe
about 1900, according to a
research bulletin written by
Dr. Smathers. In 1M6, an
infestation was reported at
Mt Mitchell. It has spread
southward and much
research has been done by the
National Park Service, the
U.S. Forest Service and
others.
The Balsam Woolly Aphid
population is all female. Each
Aphid can lay more than 100
eggs. Adults are about one
millimeter long. Twenty-five
could line up side by side in
an inch-long space. The
spherical creatures vary in
color from dark purple to
black, and at the stage when
they get woolly coats, they
can float on the wind.
Actually, Balsam Woolly
isn't an Aphid but an Adelges,
scientists agree. Its scientific
designation ? Adelges Piceae
? oddly enough refers to
Spruce. But Balsam Woolly is
fussy about her food.
She likes a diet of Juice
from the trees called Abies
Fraser (Pursh) Poir, the
famous high-ridge Balsams of
North Carolina. The trees are
particularly noticeable at
6,000-foot Richland Balsam,
at Water Rock Knob, Devil's
Courthouse, Mt. Pisgah and
other high points along the
1,000-foot wide parkway.
Because of the terrain, tree
sizes and other factors,
Balsam Woolly isn't easily or
profitably fought with
chemicals or biological
warfare in park, parkway and
forest.
Among cultivators of the
Fraser fir for Christmas
trees, though, the battle is a
continuous one. Balsam
Woolly is a "serious problem"
to commercial growers of the
popular Christmas trees, says
Steve West, Haywood County
agricultural extension
specialist. Annual chemical
pesticide spraying is done the
hrst or second week in May.
Balsam Woolly doesn't
otherwise bother commercial
and amateur shrub, garden
and house plant growers. If
you have Aphid trouble, it's
from one of Balsam Woolly's
cousins. Aphids are a
"tremendous family," West
says. They can be green,
yellow, red, white or other
color. Most aphids can readily
move about during their
lifetimes.
Balsam Woolly is immobile
once she implants her mouth
in a fir tree. She kills, not by
dehydrating the tree, but by
innoculating the tree with a
toxic substance that causes
cells of the tree to malform.
The malformed cells can't
carry life-sustaining fluids on
the leaves to roots cycle, Dr.
Garrett explained.
As man can build im
munities to certain diseases
through contact with them,
so, possibly can the Fraser
Fir become immune to the
Balsam Woolly toxin.
In centuries to come, the
famous Balsams of the high
ridges still will be there, Dr.
Garrett believes.
BALSAMS LIVE AND DEAD
stand along the Blue Ridge Park
way, Mile 431, at Richland
Balsam. Visitors and scientists
worry about the parade of death
caused by Balsam Woolly Aphids,
but a recent theory indicates the
unique species may survive.
1978 Wool Payments
Sheep growers will receive
in the next few weeks about
$36 million in federal in
centive payments on their
1978 marketings of shorn
wool, according to Ray Fit
zgerald, administrator of
USDA-ASCS.
Payments for 1978
marketings will be higher
than for 1977 because the
support price for shorn wool
was increased from 99 to 108
cents per pound by the Food
and Agriculture Act of 1977.
Hie 1978 national average
market price for shorn wool
was 74.5 cents per pound, 33.5
cents under the support price.
Therefore, the payment rate
for 1978 marketings of shorn
wool ? the amount required
to bring the average price up
to the incentive price ? will
be 45.0 percent, compared to
37.5 percent in 1977.
The wool program is in
tended to encourage a grower
to improve the quality of wool
with a grower's incentive
payment determined by
multiplying the payment rate
times the net dollar return
received from the sale of
wool.
Deductions of 2.5 cents per
pound from 1978 shorn wool
payments and 12.5 cents per
hundred pounds of liveweight
from 1978 lamb payments will
be made to finance ad
vertising, sales promotion,
and related market
development activities.
Two Madison County wool
producers will receive ap
proximately $26 as a wool
incentive payment for 1978.
NOT PURIFIERS
LOMBARD, 111. (AP) -
Those water-filtering devices
that fit on the faucet or go un
der the sink can be called al
most anything you like, but
don't call them purifiers, ad
vises the Water Quality Associ
ation.
MARSHALL 'HILLBILLIES',
shown above, appeared on Wl>OS
TV Saturday morning displaying
their talgnfo at square dancing
First row, left to right: Dewayne
Buckner, Neil Lewis, Tim Denton,
James Griffin; second row:
Teresa Keller, Sandra Ball, Pam
Buckner, Kim Taylor; third row:
Randy Riddle, Ricky Roberts,
Bobby Morrow, Scott Treadway,
Larry Malone; fourth row: Lori
Sams, Diane Cfemmons, Stacy
Rector, Autumn Tayior, and Julie
Allison. Teachers of the group are
Cathy Price and Billie Jean Red
mon.
LARRY WHITT
Whitt Named
Caswell
Chairman
Larry Whitt, a native of
Madison County, has been ap
pointed chairman of the
Caswell County Board of Com
missioners. His appointment
becomes effective June 1.
Whitt graduated from N.C.
State University with a degree
in Animal Husbandry. He is a
member of the Central
Caswell Ruritan Club, having
served as charter president.
He is also a member of the
Northwestern County Agents
Association and the Caswell
County Cattleman's Associa
tion. He served as co
chairman of the Bi-centennial
Celebration held in Caswell
County.
He is married to the former
Sandra Smith, also of Madison
County, and they are parents
of one daughter. They are
members of the Purley United
Methodist Church.
Whitt is the son of Mrs.
Irene Whitt, of Weaverville,
and the late Glenn Whitt.
PEARSON SHOW
WASHINGTON (AP) ? A
showing of works by Ronald
Pearson is being held at the
National Collection of Fine
Arts, Smithsonian Institution,
through Oct. IS.
"A noted craftsman who has
worked in metal for 30 years,
Pearson is concerned with the
reflective quality of silver and
gold and with the fluidity of
form," the museum says It
adds, "His Jewelry U so
strikingly handsome that he
?r
w
-if
i
Heard And Seen >
By POP
?
This week's column is dedicated to people 60 or ?
older. <.\
The month of May has been designated by the '
president, governor and Land-of-Sky Regional
Council's board as Older Americans Month for the x
purpose of recognizing the needs and buttons of this f
age group.
I would like to share some facts with you %
concerning those over the age of 65 determined as a
result of Dr. Erdman Palmore's research and that ?
of his colleagues at Duke University.
These facts are TRUE :
1. The five senses related to sight, hearing, 5
etc., to decline with old age.
2. Aged drivers have fewer accidents per :
person than drivers under age 65.
3. About 80 percent of the aged are healthy
enough to carry out their normal activities.
4. Most older people are not set in their ways >
and unable to change.
5. Older workers have fewer accidents than
younger workers.
6. The majority of old people are working or
would like to have some kind of work to do (in
eluding housework and volunteer work).
7. The reaction time of most old people tends to
be slower than reaction time of younger people.
8. The majority of old people are seldom
irritated or angry.
9. Physical strength tends to decline in old age. S
10. Lung capacity tends to decline in old age.
These facts are FALSE:
1. The majority of old people are senile (Le.,
defective memory, disoriented, or demented).
2. Most old people have no interest in, or
capacity for, sexual relations.
3. The majority of old people feel miserable
most of the time.
4. Most older workers cannot work as ef
fectively as younger workers.
5. Most old people are set in their ways and
unable to change.
6. It is almost impossible for most old people to
learn new things.
7. In general, most old people are pretty much
alike.
8. The majority of old people are socially
isolated and lonely.
9. Older people tend to become more religious ?
as they age.
10. The health and socio-economic status of !
older people (compared to younger people) in the :
year 2000 will probably be about the same as that of ?
today's older people.
Older Americans are the fastest growing i
segment of the American population. Last year, ;
their numbers increased at a rate 2.9 times faster :
than the under-60 population. Since 1900, the over '
60's have increased four times as fast as the under
60's. Today, older Americans number 34 million $
whereas there were 4.8 million in 1900. Today, one |
of every seven persons in America is 60 or over and ?
it will be one in every four Americans in 2035, if $
projections hold true.
Won't you take time to recognize an older ?
person during May?
Wade Huey Participates |
In Dedication
Wade Huey of Marshall was
one of the participants who
spoke recently at the dedica
tion of the Western North
Carolina Baptist Home at
Richmond Hill, Asheville.
Huey, chairman of the
building committee,
presented the keys to the
$1,650,000 building to officials.
The event was attended by an
estimated 1,000 people.
The event climaxed efforts
initiated three and one-half
years ago when a campaign
was launched to raise $1
million fpr the borne. Baptists
have five similar facilities
throughout the state, but this
is the first one to be built west
of Winston-Salem.
Dr. Cecfl A. Ray, general
i
secretary-treasurer of the 5
Baptist State Convention, was ?
the main speaker at the 3 pjn.
ceremnnv
"On behalf of the 1,100,000 3
Baptists across the state, I 3
want to say thank yon to aQ of ?
you who have given birth to a Jj
dream, conceptionalized that
dream into a (dan and then im- V
piemen ted that plan into a '<
reality," Ray told those pre
sent
Since the dedication, many *?
prominent Baptists have com
plimented the committees on :?
the splendid achievement. >?
Also congratulating Hney and
other officials was Gov. Jim
Hunt
The News-Record
NON? PARTISAN IN POLITICS
(USPS 3W ? 440)
JAMES L STORY, Etttar
Published Weekly
By Madison County PubitahingCo.toc.
BOX *7
MARSHALL. N.C. 2S7S3