Waves of Green (1950)

[Music] la [Music] la [Music] [Music] on the sent of high adventure in American life we boarded a cargo ship on her way from port to port here in this shell of Steel is a patch of American soil here also are men whose Vision has grown brighter with distance from home and with Time For Thought of many things it's a great country isn't it bie the best bet you've seen them all haven't you beanie just about I think about it a lot we've got mountains and orange groves got deserts and glazers we've got prairies and river valleys thousands of square miles of farm and we're free to work those Farms the way we know best H are you a farm boy kid well I was born on a farm and brought up on one too I guess how can you tell beanie does it show no kid you can't tell by looking these days then how'd you guess after 30 years on the water I've decided that most Sailors is Farm boys who spent half their life dreaming about going to Sea once they get to seea they spend half their time thinking about going back to the farm why is that beanie why do they talk about going back to the floor it's exciting at se isn't it well those uh story book riters seem to have it that way what would you rather do sir be around to raise a tasty thing like that or just delivery boys like us taking it somewhere you sound like you're dreaming about going back to the farm not going back some I never lived on one you think you'd like it I know I would I'm going to drop anchor somewhere out in the middle west when they quit the sea going to raise soybeans I'm going to raise fruit if I ever go back to the farm well every man do his own [Music] taste this sure is a swell pear Bean yeah they're grow good in the Northwest funny thing when I was starting out like you there wasn't growing any pears around here not even delivering them was all all apples so with this slender clue to a drama in real life we turn our sight on an Oregon river valley where strangely enough our story of pears begins in an apple orchard more than 30 years ago for here one of the area's great Industries was stalemated yields were good but apples as the main stay of Oregon Fruit Growers were doomed their death sentence was written in Oregon's remote geographical location shipping costs were a serious handicapped in Northwest competition 38 other Apple growing states can reach the big centers of population more easily but in the city of Coralis this apparently hopeless situation was being attacked here the man of Oregon State College were working to help save an industry step by step the scientists organized facts penetrated unknowns and found answers followed years of laborious searching and tests when the work was completed Oregon had the basis for a new industry science discovered that many varieties of pears would Thrive here as well as apples that in the pear Market the Northwest would find much less competition a geographical handicap has been blotted from the economic map and the Fruit Growers of Oregon lost little [Music] time New Waves of green began sweeping through the Rogue River Valley and the Hood River Valley bringing New Hope to thousands here are the fruits of a great American principle the principle of farmers and their government working together for the good of all [Music] and this is only one of many flourishing projects developed through common effort for the common good of this Rich agricultural region equally spectacular is a giant seed industry developed through agricultural research sponsored by the extension service and fostered by the farmers of the Great Northwest today hundreds of thousands of Acres of seed crops for winter cover crops in the Cotton Belt and the Northeast for improved pastures fine Lawns and golf greens all over the nation comprise one of Oregon's Chief agricultural Enterprises yet only 25 years ago the seed industry was virtually unknown in the Northwest here United effort has performed its magic creating a living Memorial to the spirit of America's [Music] greatness many of are the tales of Adventure that stem from the cargo carried in the spirit of America for here are farm products from the best fed nation in the history of the world products of the country's leading industry American Agriculture and behind each one there lies a story which in its quiet drama Rivals the better known Adventures of Our National Heritage that's sure a lot of wheat yeah see seems as all more wheat comes out of this part of the country every year the story behind that handful of grain is the story of a battle against the perversity of nature for many years the Great Plains had been established as the Bread Basket of America and then destruction of wheat crops began to strike broad Acres of the western hemisphere's basic food were laid waste by the pestilence of wheat rust but as the plague spread it found increasing numbers of scientists fighting for science has no room for discouragement these men shared a belief that wheat production could be and must be saved and their determination brought success a young South Dakota agricultural student es mcfaden discovered that one type of wheat which grew on his father's Farm was highly rust resistant although its yield was low and its grain of poor quality in a tiny test plot mcfaden worked painstakingly to crossbreed this rust resistant wheat with a high yielding variety the result of his labor was a single hybrid plant which combined the rust resistance of low yielding wheat with the essential qualities of the high yielding variety repeated plantings increased the seed supply of the new variety a rust resistant wheat with a potential for high quality and high yield which mcfaden named hope the young scientist sent packets of Hope wheat to his fellow workers across the country and now a new Nationwide wheat breeding program was underway such men as quizenberry OAS and Clark of the United States Department of Agriculture Hayes and stakan of Minnesota w of North Dakota Parker of Kansas and many others in the United States and Canada used McFadden's hope wheat as the basis for the rust resistant highquality Wheats we know today and so one more threat to the nation's bread Supply was brought under control once more science penetrated the secrets of nature but in the southwest rust still had a death grip on we production here was another challenge for plant scientists and Es mcfaden was one of those who accepted it transplanting his knowledge to Texas A&M the Texas state agricultural College this modest man of science succeeded in breeding rust resistant varieties of wheat adapted to the Southwest adding still another battle star to his long list of Victories for agriculture he not only revitalized the wheat growing areas of the Southwest but developed rust resistance strains which are extending the wheat belt even to the Gulf Coast where wheat has never been grown successfully before es mcfaden takes a place on the list of great benefactors for his exceptionally meritorious contribution to Public Welfare he's only one of the many plant breeders of the Department of Agriculture and state agricultural experiment stations who are continuing this work today producing new varieties of cropped plants that are resistant to disease and even to insect [Music] pests again we return to the spirit of America for in her cargo is the spirit of a people who first hacked a livelihood from the Wilderness and transformed that Wilderness into a nation of Free People your harmonica sounds kind of homesick tonight doc yeah seems like it only happens when it gets near home it's been a long time since we've been down around here together now who could ever get home sick for this part of the country well a lot of nice folks live down this way hard working they are too most of them same as you'll find any place else me and my harmonica we we get homesick every time we we think about [Music] him if we're seeking for living drama we need only look more closely at those who breathe reality into the dreams of science for all the brilliant discoveries in the Laboratories the greenhouse and on the test plot are but chaff until they sprout in the soil of practical farming and when reaching for the gifts of science the farmer plays a great part in our pageant of American Life which now takes us back 20 years to a sharecropper Farm in the Carolinas where a boy Jim is bringing his new bride it's not like your daddy's Farm Lou but well it'll make us a living until until what Jim until we can save up enough money to buy our own Farm maybe two Farms who can tell two Farms don't talk nonsense Jim well I don't mean to talk nonsense I'm talking what I know but what I know about farming and what I can learn well it won't be easy but it ain't nonsense it wasn't easy we're forced to report because this is a true story little things kept happening and money was hard to save before Lou was 23 she had born her fourth son and it was then that Jim allowed he had enough hands to take care of those two Farms he was going to own someday in the meantime Jim was building another kind of reputation there were some in his part of the county who said that Jim Harkness could make two plants grow where one grew before and even though this arithmetic may have been a little on the enthusiastic side it helped to counterbalance what others were saying that Jim Harkness went in too much for book farming for in that determination which grew even brighter with the years this young sharecropper breathed deep in the world of scientific farming any Farm meeting or demonstration within mule back distance of his cabin found Jim Harkness plotting toward the source of more knowledge asking questions listening watching getting ready for the day he knew would surely come and to him there came as a regular visitor that friend of all Farmers the county agent and with this ambassador of scientific agriculture came news of developments that men like Jim Hartness could use men like Jim are good risks so after 10 years of proof that he had the Knack of making crops grow that marks all successful Farmers Jim was able to borrow money which added to his savings bought the farm that he and Lou could call their own and now he put to work much of that knowledge he had acquired as a sharecropper with the county agent he tested his soil he experimented with new cover crops even with seeds from the far off fields of Oregon he used improved seed to increase his yields and impr improve the quality of his products he rotated his crops onee corn the next year wheat the wheat followed by [Music] Clover within a few years the harness Farm became a Showplace of practical scientific agriculture it became a place for the county agent to bring people from the state college to see how a man of the soil had put their science into his Fields but you can't stand still on the treadmill of science whether it be in chemistry physics medicine or Agriculture and farmer Jim Harkness today keeps on with his studies taking many a short course himself at North Carolina State College you know the end to this story if such a story can have an end Jim and Lou have their second farm and on it they've built one of the most comfortable Farm homes in the county inside as well as out it's built for convenience from plans Lou and the county home demonstration agent worked out together here is a seemingly Impossible Dream Come True this is the beginning of a dynasty a modest American Dynasty founded on the principle of opportunity and freedom for all opportunity to acquire knowledge freedom to apply it as each man sees fit in no other country in the world are there opportunities to achieve what Jim Harkness has achieved and therein lies another episode in our pageant of American Life