CLARKSDALE -- Covered only with a coat of rust and adorned with a string of lights from a Christmas past, the vintage machine sitting on the edge of Highway 49 near Clarksdale is a reminder of a revolution that took place in southern agriculture more than 60 years ago.
The M12H International Harvester cotton picker was produced in the late 1940s and was among the second generation of commercially successful cotton pickers to hit the market. It is located on the Hopson Plantation, the site of field tests for mechanical pickers from the 1920s through the 1940s.
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
As we enter the New Year, most of us have planted everything we are going to plant until spring, making this a time for reflecting on how things went the past growing season and to plan for next year's flower border.
Last summer, we were filming our Southern Gardening TV news segment at a site with beautiful bedding plants. If I made a poster of the photo I took and put a title on the picture, it would be something like “Adjectives and Accolades.”
By Norman Winter
MSU Horticulturist
Central Mississippi Research & Extension Center
A new foliage plant called Cardoon is sweeping the South in popularity, and it's being used extensively in Mississippi. We've been growing this perennial for a couple of years at Mississippi State University's Truck Crops Experiment Station in Crystal Springs.
MISSISSIPPI STATE -- Mississippi, Arkansas and Louisiana pecan growers can learn more about production and marketing issues at a June 21-22 convention and trade show in Shreveport, La.
Pecan grower associations from each of the three states are sponsoring the event at the Clarion Hotel. Registration begins at noon on June 21 and costs $35.
MISSISSIPPI STATE – An Aug. 7 videoconference will address the impact of the ongoing drought and cattle producers’ concerns about finding ample feed sources for the upcoming fall and winter.
The statewide distance education meeting for producers will begin at 7 p.m. Viewing sites around the state are being arranged. Contact the local Extension office for the nearest location.