European Stars And Stripes (Newspaper) - January 5, 1986, Darmstadt, Hesse Sunday january 5, 1986 the stars and stripes Page 7 lend an ear of your thirsty cauliflower plants Washington a it scientists persist you May be awakened in the Middle of the night by the cries of a thirsty cauliflower wanting a drink from the Gar Jen sprinkler. The agriculture department says researchers Are Al ready strapping tiny microphones to growing plants listening to unique sounds made by plants when they need watering. Eventually according to a report by the department s agricultural research service Farmers May be Able to Tell i ally when crops need to be irrigated thereby saving water and Energy by providing the right amount at the right Lime. Or. Edwin 1,. Fiscus a us a Plant pathologist at fort Collins colo., has been listening to Corn plants for two years using microphones and Ultra sensitive electro Nic equipment to record High frequency popping sounds emitted by the plants. The sounds arc in the 100-Kilohertz Range More than five times the upper limit of what is audible to humans. A Kilohertz is 1,000 Hertz the International unit of fre Quency. Fiscus monitors Only the acoustics of certain cells those that make up the by Lucro. Or water tubes of a Plant. They Are the pipes that carry water and nutrients from roots to leaves. When there is adequate Anler in the soil water flaws upward in the tubes under tension. If the soil lacks enough water the tension in the tubes became too great and the water tubes fracture. It s the minute High frequency noise of these Frac Tures that the sound equipment detects Fiscus said. Air pockets form in the water lubes when they Frac Ture. If enough water is available in the soil some plants refill their tubes Ovi Reighl and by the following Day water and dissolved nutrients again flow to the leaves. Without refilling the lubes remain empty and unable to transport water he said. At that Point the plants Wilt. According to Fiscus the number of fractures or pops appears to be related to just How much the Plant is stressed a clue that it is time to irrigate. Fiscus said that some Farmers like Home gardeners sometimes apply water to their plants after they notice willing. Although plants usually recover from this stress their growth and eventual yield already May have been reduced other growers prevent such stress by applying too much water. The research is being conducted in cooperation with or. Mclvin t. Tyree a biophysicist at the University of Toronto Canada. Tyree developed the equipment and supervised its installation and use during the experiments. Plants Are very noisy when they grow Tyrce said. Various arts such As the Corn leaves and stalks make noise when they slide against each other As they grow other noises came from the rustling of leaves in a Breeze and the bending of sulks. We did t want to record these noises so the equipment was designed to operate at much higher frequencies where Only the sounds created by the breaking water tubes Are detected he said. Mid december . Auto sales Down of we regrets Kenned won f Detroit a sales of .-built cars fell is.8 percent in the Middle 10 Days of december he major automakers reported Friday. Only Chrysler corp. Among the big three held a major sulcs Campaign during he period and analysts said the poor show ing was because buyers Are wailing for Dis counts on cars or lower loan rates. Since then general motors corp. Has begun a major Cut rate financing Campaign and Ford motor co. Has extended a Low interest loan program to cover subcompact cars. American motors corp. Is offering rebates on its subcompact. Pm sales fell 17.4 percent during the dec 11-20 period compared to a year earlier. Sales by no. 2 Ford were Down 19.7 percent and Chrysler s sales dropped 12.4 percent a slightly Baler showing was expected for the final 10-Day Selling period of the year because of the incentives. Ford sold the first Batch of its new Ford Taurus Mercury Sable family cars during the dec. 11-20 period. Sates were 1,323. Trying to prove guns Are Safe Cost of cars Dollar or Pound Rob to Yeash Spur -4-etae to i Ford eventually wants to sell half a million of the cars each year. Among the Small producers american Honda motor co. Sales of Ohio made cars Rose 19.8 percent in the period. American motors car sales were Down 45.3 percent and Volkswagen of America sales of Penn Sylvania made cars were up 41.5 percent in the dec. 11-20 period the major Auto makers recorded 165,132 sales Down 15.8 percent from 196,109 a year earlier. Importers Only report sales at month s end. The Les Are weak bul that s not Surpris ing. Seasonally it s not a Good time for Auto sales said Harvey Heinbach automotive Industry analyst at Merrill Lynch in new York. A lot of people were aware of the fact that inventories were building up and incentives were coming. There were hint in the pm had 57.5 percent of inc Domestic Market about two Points below its traditional amount. Ford had a 22.9 percent share off about a Point from a year ago. Chrysler s share was up at 14.1, Campaign in Washington a the Rev. Jerry Falwell said Friday that he is very disappointed that sen. Edward Kennedy has taken i Mecl Foulon the presidential race for 19b8. I was working hard for his nomination said a smiling Falwell who is president of the conservative moral majority. I think he was the most Kennedy a Massachusetts Democrat whose political career Symbolics the Liberal politics Falwell consistently criticizes has joined the television evangelist for several mostly Jovial bul sometimes pointed debates in the past two years. Falwell said he thought new York nov. Mario Cuomo would be the most formidable democratic candidate in 1988 and that we would have to work a Little harder to beat tic said he believes the Rev. Pal Robertson who also has a Large television following will decide to run for the Republican nomination. Man kills self after accidentally shooting stepdaughter Pacifica Calif. Cap a Man trying to prove that guns Are Safe accidentally titled his 15-year-old step daughter then used the some pistol to take his own life after his wife refused to kill him. He was Irving to show it was harmless said police u. De Burton on Friday. It s tragic. The most dangerous guns Are those that Are supposedly unloaded. Then a year s Day tragedy began As labor negotiator cordon Shadwick 46, was playing with his 9mm semiautomatic Smith & Wesson pistol in the living room of the family Home in Pacifica about five Miles South of san Francisco Burton Ann Shadwick told officers that when she and her daughter Latla Uthman entered the room Shadwick renewed a discussion about the safety of firearms Burton said. He said Shadwick was dry firing the gun without Inci Dent to show that a gun that s not loaded is oat a Dan but a final pull fired one round and the slug struck the 15-year-old Honor student in the head killing her instantly a distraught Shadwick then blocked his wife asking her to Lake the gun and kill him then Knelt Down in front of her in the Kitchen doorway and shot himself Burton said. Mrs. Shadwick ran screaming from the House and found help at a neighbor s Home. We re not positive How it happened Burton said. The gun won t fire at All without a clip in it but it will dry fire with a full clip unless you work the slide and manually put one Bullet in the chamber. We re still Badwick was a representative of the California faculty association a University labor Union. His wife u the Union president and a librarian at san Francisco stole univer sity. They had no other children. "1 can understand Why Gordon kilted himself said san Francisco slate Provost Lawrence Lanni a Friend of the couple s. He genuinely loved his stepdaughter and Proba Bly Felt he could never face Virginia Ann vet who wants Reagan meeting called Security risk Seattle a a Vietnam Veteran who ended a 51 Day fast on behalf of miss ing . Servicemen after president Reagan promised to talk with him is a Security Mac the secret service says in arguing against co Casanova a 34-year-old former Marine who lost 45 Pound has has threatened to resume it if Reagan lain to meet him. He says Reagan promised w discuss with him the Issue of american servicemen who May still be alive in South " the secret service has 1 i
