opinion
Mother Nature’s
little garden helpers
by Dick West
United Press International
WASHINGTON — Spring is every
where, most especially in lawns and gar
dens.
You might think by this time that
grass, trees, shrubs and flowers would
know how to grow by themselves. Forget
it, Verna.
Lawn and garden plants still require a
good deal of human guidance in order to
fulfill nature’s plan. Here are a few more
things you can do by way of rendering
assistance:
Pruning — Essentially, it is easier to
plumb prunes than to prune plums.
Plum trees are notoriously inept at bran
ching out.
Left to their own devices, some plum
trees will sprout all of their branches on
the same side; some will put out branches
without any leaves on them; some will
g row big branches above their small
ranches, making the tree topheavy.
The most egregious fault of plum
trees, however, is their lackadaisical
approach to producing plums. Plum
trees are likely to spend the entire harvest
season in a barren condition if you don’t
watch them.
I have found that the most satisfactory
system is to prune plum trees plumb
down to the ground.
That method prevents branches from
growing the wrong way and also spares
one the embarrassment of explaining
why the plum tree has no plums.
Or, you can simply let plum trees grow
at will and pretend they are lilac bushes.
Fertilizing— Never fertilize your lawn
with fertilizer alone. That will promote
the growth of things other than grass that
have sprung up in the yard.
A good lawn-tender must learn to
identify things other than glass that
have sprung up in the yard and ascertain
what chemicals are bad tor them. Then
one buys a brand of fertilizer that has the
toxic chemicals mixed in with the good
stuff.
Chance are the toxic chemicals also w ill
be hard on the grass, but a good grade of
fertilizer will enable the lawn to over
come.
The best time to fertilize is some
weekend when you are going to be out of
town.
Planting— Nothing you want growing
in your lawn or garden comes up volun
tarily. Everything desirable must be
planted. There are no exceptions to this
rule.
There is, however, another way out.
Some psychiatric clinics offer attitude
adjustment sessions at which you can
learn to admire plants that come up
voluntarily.
The surprise element is about the
same either way.
That is, you will be surprised by some
of the things that come up voluntarily,
but you will be equally surprised at the
way the things you plant turn out.
Watering — The third best time for
watering lawns and gardens is immedi
ately before pruning, fertilizing and
planting.
Loose cannon in ship of state
Tim Ha<
creation
Flower B1
The second best time is immediately
after pruning, fertilizing and planting.
The best way is to water lawns and
gardens instead of pruning, fertilizing
and planting.
by Donald A. Davis
United Press International
Slouch
By Jim Earle
‘I have run out of things to protest.
WASHINGTON — While President
Reagan keeps promising that beyond the
distant horizon the economy will be tran
quil and verdant, interest rates and un
employment still rumble amok like loose
cannons on his ship of state.
For no matter how many good indi
cators his spokesmen haul out for public
view, the cost of borrowing money and
the millions of people out of work remain
the two critical points that possess their
own momentum.
And like the loose cannon, they can be
ignored only at great peril.
Viewing the statistics, there is no
doubt that the president can legitimately
point to some victories on the economic
front, particularly the fall in the rate of
inflation, a topic which once drew im
mense criticism.
The telling measure, however, is that
even the staunchest defender of Reaga
nomics shies from claiming the economy
has reached the turning point that has
been forecast.
“There is good reason to believe the
recession is bottoming out,” he said on
April 5, hedging even his own forecast.
But none of his aides want to be
ordained to wear sackcloth and ashes if
the squiggly lines on the charts start
going the wrong way again.
The spokesmen claim mere prudence
prevents them from making such an
announcement. It is also, however, a
barometer of their own lack of confi
dence in the heralded turnaround.
For until the interest and unemploy
ment rates tumble, the rest of the mix
remains unstable.
To paraphrase Newton, for every
positive indicator pointed out bv Reagan
economists, there is an equal and oppo
site number showing bad things happen
ing on the money front.
For instance, the claim of housing
starts being up is countered by timber
industry officials telling the president the
lumber business is facing disaster. Praise
for a reduction in inflation must be tem
pered by the savings and loan industry
tottering close to ruin.
Interest rates are not under control
and even the latest presidential budget
contributes to keeping them up. I lie
government borrows money to cover the
national deficit. With that deficit running
at unheard of levels, the amount of in
terest paid on it is astronomical.
Reagan says interest rates remain high
because money market men lack confi
dence that the government will stick to its
economic recovery program. That is be
cause, he claims, Congress will not rub
ber stamp his budget this year and issue a
blank check.
There are other reasons:
— The cloud of gloom provided by the
published doubts of supply side econo
mics from budget director David Stock-
man last year has not been dispelled.
— The balkiness of even the Republi
can-dominated Senate to totally support
the president has left observers per
plexed. “We are not asking Congress to
do what’s easy; we are asking them to do
what’s right,” he said recently.
— T ens of thousands of potential
homebuyers have been simply priced
clear out of the market, throwing more
pressure on financial institutions as well
as the housing industry.
— T he administration and thefS
Reserve Board are not takingi -| "V
steps toward easing the crisis.
president saving there will benoH
fix.
Perhaps most of all, confidenceiil . r, ,,.
iii i k by Debbi
aged l)\ the vast number ot uaenin Battalion
in the United States, an ugly pitliuMMl Aggies lui
cannot be ignored. The moreindiparents, but tire
t ut back, the more people theyliwltil Parents'W
the mot e people out of work.tltt^f <,u Rb April
the government has to pick upiw 1 ' 1 ’' le hdG ,u
the more paid out in benefits.ilirj™ C0l lP e s yb ,(
the federal budget is thrown, that Sund
chronizatton. My awards pro;
Administration spokesmen IliRudder Auditoi
coin to point out that while 10miBThe Parents’
out of work, 91 million have jobs.! "'Hi say only tha
reasoning, I 0 people drowningmIjpd,” class of ’
would be acceptable if 91 arenol art ' actively inv
T he White House rages ag:iiii| A P!. Univer s»
news media f or showing the hlidflM Ullles ’ anc j
.... . . ii • Steers at Tes
dividuals who are sul enng tb c I nmiueechos(
such reporting distorts the realstoi tei reviewing HI
that the situation as a whole mi Aggie could nor
viewed to get an accurate picture parents for the
T he spokesmen “ i(M I he "'inner
are coned i
think people feel sorry forfriendsB a ^ ue 1 K
latives throw n out of work or ett I
nameless poor who are less fa \ ^
poor
than themselves. Reality is food;iiif[N
ter today, not abstract economic^
later. ^
The
Letters: Vandiver says Good
economic pressure conies ^
the interest rates, and thesufferiif I
tient is fueled by unernployment.S|
question facing the administrt ^
w hether to take firm, bold actionH1
with the problems now or continufl
inn and promising a brighter tontf
K;
Editor:
More review hate mail There’s more to floating
Friday can’t be holidaij
boys to use them for rehabilitation, re- y° u d covet it.
Dear Miss Pusanik:
In response to your letter and the
attached petition asking that Good Fri
day, April 9, he considered a school holi
day, I regret that this cannot be done.
Each year’s academic calendar is
established by the Academic Gouncil,
and accreditation of the University’s
programs includes holding a certain
number of class meetings. Spring break is
arranged to adapt to the academic
schedule of the semester. Unfortunate
ly, this does not often coincide with the
Easter season which is a time to be with
family.
laxation and
seems to me
visualization training.''
there is a story there
Editor:
I certainly agree Easter and Passover
are more important than a f ootball game.
In fact, this is a special time for Christian
and Jewish students. However, there are
other students w ho do not share the same
beliefs, and it would be unfair not to give
them time of f to practice their faith.
By a copy of this letter to T he Batta
lion, I am informing your other col
leagues who signed the petition of my
answer. Your understanding is appreci
ated.
Frank E. Vandiver
President
I was very disappointed as to the tone
of the review on Ronnie Milsap’s concert.
Okay, so he did sing a medley of his hits
because he “has so many” and you didn’t
get to hear all of your favorite songs, but
would you rather have not heard any of
it? I felt that the audience was on it’s feet
and had a lot of life in them once there.
What about that second encore? Surely
the audience had nothing to do with that.
The people who went just because
there was a concert got their money’s
worth, but the people who went to hear
Milsap got their money’s worth and a lot
more. They saw the real Ronnie Milsap.
Milsap the diverse music lover, Milsap
the entertainer. Anybody could see that
he was enjoying himself.
As for the blind jokes, don’t they make
the audience feel more at ease? A loose
audience is a prime ingredient for a good
show.
What about that song Ronnie sang that
was someone else’s? What was the name
of it? Oh yea. “America.” I think that was
worth mentioning in the review. I en
joyed it ... even a few chills went up my
back. I wasn’t the only one. It seems like I
can remember a few other people stand
ing ... silently.
Tod Whitley ’84
Editor:
Seeing the recent piece on floating to
relax on KAMU and the experimental
testing of its applications in the develop
ment of accelerated learning programs
made me think of the silly Battalion story
in Focus where the reporter, filled with
expectations and assumptions, displayed
little of the vaunted objectivity so pre
cious to journalists. Not only was the arti
cle snide in tone but superficial in con
tent. T he research being done by Dr.
Thomas E. Taylor of the Chemistry De
partment reflects many of the education
al ideas now gaining currency: can learn
ing be enhanced by altering the way
knowledge is apprehended, and if so,
how? T he Float to Relax people say yes
learning can be accelerated and are will
ing to back that up with a money back
guarentee on their language programs.
I think the Battalion would do the Uni
versity a service if it would take a look at
this and give us a fuller story. What is it
about float tanks that makes them attrac
tive to researchers in learning theory,
that allows a company to offer a learn or
your money back guarantee, or that
prompts a group such as the Dallas Cow-
The Battalion
wiiij*
Francii Sj
i
9
USPS 045 360
Member of
Texas Press Association
Southwest Journalism Conference
mutter should be directed to the editor.
Editor Angelique Copeland
City Editor Denise Richter
Assistant City Editor Diana Sultenfuss
Sports Editor Frank L. Christlieb
Focus Editor Cathy Saathoff
Assistant Focus Editor Nancy Floeck
News Editors Gary Barker,
Phyllis Henderson, Mary Jo Rummel,
Nancy Weatherley
Staff Writers Jennifer Carr,
Cyndy Davis, Gaye Denley,
Sandra Gary, Colette Hutchings,
JohnaJo Maurer, Hope E. Paasch
Daniel Puckett, Bill Robinson,
Denise Sechelski, John Wagner,
Laura Williams, Rebeca Zimmermann
Cartoonist Scott McCullar
Graphic Artist Richard DeLeon Jr.
Photographers Sumanesh Agrawal,
David Fisher, Eileen Manton,
Eric Mitchell, Peter Rocha.
John Ryan, Colin Valentine
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