News From 2000

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- "Walk up," "stand," "lie down" and "that'll do." Simple phrases spoken softly by one person and the working dog herds a group of animals like an expert.

In fact, sometimes the dog is the expert, but often the real brain at work is the experienced handler communicating directions to a canine companion.

Leroy Boyd, professor of animal and dairy science at Mississippi State University, has trained border collies since 1978 and helped trained handlers as well.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

If you want your landscape or patio to look like French Martinique, the jewel of the Caribbean, you should try growing this year's Mississippi Medallion award-winning yellow shrimp plant.

The yellow shrimp plant, Pachystachys lutea, is the first tropical plant to receive the Mississippi Medallion award. These plants will bloom all summer and are so easy to grow you will be amazed. You may start hearing the tropical sounds of steel drums in the distance.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi's wheat crop headed into April with a bright outlook, but recent weather sent farmers to the fields looking for freeze and disease damage.

Erick Larson, wheat specialist with the Mississippi State University Extension Service, said the dry winter was favorable to the state's wheat.

"Overall, the wheat crop has been in real good shape going into the spring," Larson said. "Recent rains caused some water- logged spots and killed some plants."

An early-April freeze damaged some wheat, but only time will tell how much.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- When the Mississippi Legislature passed a law last year requiring high schoolers be taught money management, Mississippi State University's Extension Service stepped in to help make this happen.

The High School Financial Planning Program in Mississippi was offered to school districts to help them comply with a law passed in 1999. This law requires all public school districts to teach personal finances courses. MSU's Extension Service is providing the training for the teachers who will present this material.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The blossoms of spring have bordered on the spectacular this year, and the Lady Banks rose has contributed to the gorgeous displays.

Lady Banks is a species rose, not a hybrid, that hails from China. It is named after the wife of Sir Joseph Banks, the legendary head of the Royal Horticultural Society of Great Britain.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Universities in five southern states are joining forces to offer a national Internet based radio network for agricultural, food, human and natural resource information.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Many Mississippi fields needed rain, but the early April deluge may have provided more long-term water for the streams and lakes than for farm soils.

Six to 8 inches of rain fell across much of the state the first few days of April, with some reports near 10 inches.

By Suzanne Berry

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Horses are an integral part of the lives of many Mississippians, but owners should consider the cost of their breeding, training, events, healthcare, shoeing, stabling and feeding.

Providing quality feed and care for horses is important for horse owners not only because they are sometimes considered part of the family, but also because horses are a major investment.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Sociologists see a disappearing middle in many areas of American life, and agriculture is no exception.

Joe Molnar, professor of rural sociology at Auburn University, said large farms are getting larger and more small farms are springing up while mid-size farms are declining. His findings were released in "Agriculture in transition: Food and fiber livelihoods in an industrialized context," a publication of the Southern Rural Development Center at Mississippi State University.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Shoppers hoping to find something different in the new millennium may be disappointed to find women's fashions reminiscent of the 1970s, but they will be relieved to find more feminine influences returning.

"The fashions for this spring and summer can best be described as retro 1970s," said Everlyn Johnson, apparel and textile project leader with Mississippi State University's Extension Service. "Many of the looks made famous by the `Charlie's Angels' television show will be returning."

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- If you thought it was hard paying to fill up your car, try buying diesel for a farm tractor to plant crops that may not sell for enough to cover total production costs.

Tom Jones, agricultural economist with Mississippi State University's Extension Service, said farm fuel prices are running at least 55 percent higher than they did last year. While market prices have improved since last fall enough to soften the blow, crop prices remain below adequate levels.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

If your neighborhood has any deep red-bronze Japanese maples growing, they are probably this year's Mississippi Medallion award winning tree, the Bloodgood. This maple has earned the respect of landscapers and gardeners throughout the South.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

The first flower to have its own web site has garnered another honor, the 2000 Mississippi Medallion Award. This prestigious honor goes to the Wave series of petunias, whose web site can be found at www.wave-rave.com.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi farmers have looked to the sky, the markets and their pocketbooks to make planting decisions for a year that already promises to be a challenge.

Winter rains brought little relief from last year's late season drought, so farmers had a rare opportunity to begin planting corn earlier than normal this spring. Mississippi farmers planted about 55 percent of their corn with 40 percent emerging by the end of March, compared to the five-year average of 21 percent planted and 4 percent emerged.

By Rebekah Ray

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Horticulture, the green industry, is one of the fastest growing areas of agriculture and includes fresh-cut flowers and foliage, potted flowering and foliage plants, bedding plants, perennials, annuals and bulbs, shrubs, trees, cut Christmas trees, seeds and other propagative materials.

HOUSTON -- Mississippi State University students learned the difficulties of conducting research in a zero gravity environment after a mid-March flight on NASA's reduced gravity aircraft.

The nine animal and dairy science students and their advisor devised an experiment to determine how a particular enzyme reacts in micro gravity. They worked with the firefly enzyme luciferase and compared its reaction in zero gravity to its reaction in Earth gravity. They used a luminometer to record the flash of light that signaled each reaction.

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

There is a revival of sorts going on in the world of gardening, and it's all around us. It may be as close as the house next door. It is the revival of the cottage garden.

I know in some places cottage gardens never left. But now cottage gardens are popping up not only in rural areas, but also in new neighborhoods with the most modern homes. Included in this revival of style comes the old fashioned picket fence.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Farmers with a sense of adventure have made their decisions, paid the price and now are preparing for the first plunge on the agricultural roller-coaster ride of 2000.

Poor market prices and drought challenges in recent growing seasons are making farmers think more than twice as they make planting decisions.

"This is not going to be a good year to make a lot of changes in a farming plan. Growers need to rely on the basics," said Alan Blaine, soybean specialist with Mississippi State University's Extension Service.

MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Spring gardeners getting ready to put in their vegetable crop must include plenty of water in those plans.

Dr. David Nagel, vegetable specialist with Mississippi State University's Extension Service, said the state has a rain deficit of 5 to 6 inches. Soil that is growing vegetables loses about 1 inch a week, compared to 7/10 inch a week on fallow ground.

"We normally have a wet January and February and start this time of year with the soil holding as much water as it can," Nagel said. "This year, the whole state has been dry."

By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center

Hundreds of bright, brilliantly colored flowers are popping out all across the state. These are flowers that make other states with alkaline soil weep with jealousy. You know what I am referring to, the azalea, one of the most loved, revered and sought after shrubs anywhere.