Alabama Polytechnic Institute Research Articles

Alabama Historical Association Markers, 2021

Alabama Historical Association Markers, 2021 Scotty E. Kirkland (bio) The texts and locations of the fourteen markers sponsored by the Association in 2021 are copied below. More information on the program, including guidelines for new marker requests, can be found at https://www.alabamahistory.net/historical-markers. JACKSON COUNTY PHILLIP HAMMAN, SOLDIER & EARLY ALABAMA SETTLER Of German ancestry, Phillip Hamman was a Colonial-era scout and a Revolutionary War soldier hailed as the “Savior of Green-brier” for his 1778 efforts to defend Ft. Donnally in present-day West Virginia. In 1780, he married Christina Cook (1763–1842). After nearly 40 years in Kentucky, they became early settlers of Jackson County in the 1820s, farming a large tract of land one mile north of this site. In 1827, Phillip Hamman helped organize the Friendship Church at Fackler and was ordained as its pastor. In 1972, the remains of Phillip and Christina Hamman were removed from family land and reinterred at the Valley Head Cemetery. [To be located along County Road 42, near Fackler] [End Page 163] JEFFERSON COUNTY HIGHLANDS SCHOOL Evalina Brown Spencer founded Highlands Day School in 1958, expanding a daycare she operated in her family’s backyard. In 1962, Highlands moved from rented space in St. Luke’s Episcopal Church to this site, on land donated by Joseph and Virginia Simpson. The early campus consisted of four buildings. Expansions in 1991, 1997, and 2019 added an auditorium, library, offices, a gymnasium, cafeteria, and classrooms. Students range from infants to eighth grade. Alumni remember school traditions fondly, including Blue Devils athletics, public speaking, gatherings on the quad, and time spent on the “Big Rock” located on campus. [4901 Old Leeds Road, Birmingham] THE ATTEMPTED BOMBING OF CONGREGATION BETH-EL Congregation Beth-El was founded in 1907 on Birmingham’s north side. Its leadership came from Knesseth Israel, the city’s Orthodox Jewish congregation. Beth-El was established as a modern, yet traditional congregation. Construction on the synagogue at this site began in 1926, with the addition of an education wing in 1952. By the 1950s, Beth-El was Alabama’s largest Conservative Jewish congregation. On Monday, April 28, 1958, a satchel containing 54 sticks of dynamite was placed along the eastern exterior of the synagogue’s lower floor. The bomb failed before it could detonate. Had the bomb exploded, the blast would have demolished the building. Part of a series of unsolved antisemitic attacks against Jewish institutions in the South in the 1950s, the attempted bombing of Beth-El came amidst a plague of racial terror during Birmingham’s modern Civil Rights era. Although Congregation Beth-El received sympathy and support from across Birmingham and beyond, the crime remained unsolved. [End Page 164] In the bombing’s wake, reaction within the local Jewish community ranged from fear to a determination to confront bigotry and intolerance amidst the ongoing struggle for justice and equality. [To be located at 2179 Highland Avenue, Birmingham] LEE COUNTY AUBURN UNIVERSITY AND THE ALABAMA FARMERS FEDERATION On January 31, 1921, farmers gathered on the campus of Alabama Polytechnic Institute (API), now Auburn University, to form the Alabama Farm Bureau, now known as the Alabama Farmers Federation. Former Alabama Extension Service Director Luther Duncan, who later became API president, encouraged farmers to organize as a unified force in public policy and to support agricultural education, research, and outreach. Extension agents promoted Farm Bureau membership throughout Alabama. By 1925, Farm Bureau groups were established in all 67 counties. Farm Bureau played a pivotal role in development of farm programs, cooperative marketing, rural electrification, and strengthening the land-grant university system. In 1946, Alabama Farm Bureau formed what is known today as Alfa Insurance® to provide coverage for rural residents. The organization changed its name in 1987. The Federation has emerged as the preeminent voice for farmers and rural Alabama in advocacy, communication, public policy, leadership development, commodity promotion, agricultural education, and research. In 2021, the Alabama Farmers Federation celebrated its centennial and the 75th anniversary of Alfa Insurance with a renewed commitment to its founding principles. [Ag Heritage Park Pavilion, S. Donahue Drive, Auburn University] [End Page 165] MADISON COUNTY ALICE BOARMAN BALDRIDGE, WOMEN’S RIGHTS...

From Alabama to the Skies of France, 1917–1918: Penrose Vass Stout’s Improbable Journey

From Alabama to the Skies of France, 1917–1918: Penrose Vass Stout’s Improbable Journey Robert J. Jakeman (bio) It was late afternoon, september 28, 1918. a lone aircraft appeared over an American airfield in France. Montgomery native Penrose Stout was at the controls. He had departed a few minutes earlier, and his ground crew did not expect him back so soon. After making a smooth landing, he climbed out of the cockpit. He took a few steps and then collapsed from wounds inflicted by five German aircraft that had surprised him shortly after takeoff. Stout was a member of the 27th Aero Squadron, one of four squadrons that made up the 1st Pursuit Group. As a combat pilot, Stout was part of a select cadre: approximately 50,000 American men applied to train as pilots in the Great War; only about 1,400 saw combat.1 In some ways Stout was typical of American pilots during the war. He was college–educated, white, and a professional, but he was unlike many of his comrades in several important ways. First, he was thirty–one [End Page 291] years old, substantially older than most other pilots, whose average age was about twenty. In fact, he was older than Eddie Rickenbacker, considered well advanced when he started flight training at twenty–eight.2 Second, he was a southerner who had migrated to the North for economic opportunity. Third, he left a well–established career to volunteer for the Air Service. Fourth, he was a talented artist who documented his service with his drawings. Finally, he flew with one of the most successful and elite American air units of the war, the 1st Pursuit Group. It included such famous pilots as Eddie Rickenbacker and Frank Luke, both recipients of the Medal of Honor.3 Click for larger view View full resolution Image 1. Penrose Vass Stout in his Air Service uniform (courtesy Alabama Department of Archives and History, hereafter ADAH). Stout’s combat duty lasted scarcely a month and he did not down any enemy aircraft. Nevertheless, his story offers important insights into the experiences of America’s first combat pilots. His letters [End Page 292] home contain descriptions of daily routines, accounts of combat missions, and much more. But just as important as the words of his letters are the numerous sketches he scattered throughout his correspondence. In addition, he compiled a sketchbook that documents his military service. Recognizing the value of Stout’s wartime letters and artwork, his family preserved them over the decades and recently donated them to the Alabama Department of Archives and History. penrose stout was born february 28, 1887, the eldest son of Robert Platt and Zemula Vass Stout of Montgomery. Pen, as he was known to family and friends, was named for his maternal grandfather, Horatio Penrose Vass, who was born in Maryland and migrated to Mobile.4 Pen’s father was a cotton broker and earned a modest income.5 Despite the family’s modest circumstances, Stout completed high school and went on to college at Alabama Polytechnic Institute (now Auburn University). Perhaps the earliest surviving example of Stout’s artistic talent appears in the Auburn yearbook. Over a half–dozen of his sketches appear in the 1905 edition.6 He apparently entered Auburn in 1904 as a sophomore, majoring in civil engineering.7 Like all male Auburn students of that era, he was a member of the corps of cadets. He excelled and rose to the rank of cadet lieutenant. He was a brother in the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, president of the German club, and secretary of his senior class. The description with Stout’s senior photograph in the yearbook declared him “the best artist in the [End Page 293] school.”8 In 1907 or 1908 he completed a degree in civil engineering but remained at Auburn and to enter the newly launched architecture program .9 He was in the first class of five and also served as an architecture instructor. In 1909 he completed a second bachelor’s degree, this time in architecture.10 Click for larger view View full resolution Image 2. The “Biscuit Trust,” from the...

Two Alabama Historians Write Alabama History: Honoring Robert David Ward (review)

T H E A L A B A M A R E V I E W 158 break new ground but summarizes an arcane ritual ably in lively prose. She traces the racial politics of Mardi Gras and illuminates the rituals of class and genealogy that underpin the debutantes’ experience. George Bernard Shaw once observed that “the great secret” did not lie in having either good or bad manners, “but having the same manner for all human souls; in short, behaving as if you were in Heaven, where there are no third-class carriages, and one soul is as good as another.” By this definition, no reader of these essays will ever confuse the American South with Heaven. PAMELA TYLER University of Southern Mississippi Two Alabama Historians Write Alabama History: Honoring Robert David Ward. Edited by William Warren Rogers. Tallahassee, Fl.: Sentry Press, 2008. xiv, 134 pp. $20.00. ISBN 978-1-889574-32-5. In 2006, Alabama lost one of its eminent historians, Robert David Ward, a native of Montevallo who spent his entire professional life at Georgia Southern University. Over the course of these years, Professor Ward often collaborated with his friend, historian Bill Rogers, who spent his teaching years at Florida State University. The two had met in graduate school at Auburn University (then the Alabama Polytechnic Institute ) in September 1950. Beyond American history, they had much in common—including being avid tennis players. Their close friendship lasted until David’s death. Their attempt at coauthoring articles began with a weekly column in the Auburn student newspaper, The Plainsman. Ward and Rogers both pursued their doctoral studies in history at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill—David studying twentiethcentury American history and Bill working in southern history, specializing in the post–Civil War and Reconstruction periods. Over the next half century, the two historians worked on research projects that resulted in six books and ten articles. This volume contains six of the essays they coauthored and one that Ward wrote alone. All have appeared in print except the one essay they were working on when Ward died in April 2006. That essay was about a personal quarrel between Alabama historian John Witherspoon DuBose and William O. Robbins, the warden of the state penitentiary at Wetumpka. There was a bitter and unusual feud, a little gem of history that Ward and Rogers discovered during research for their book on Alabama’s response to the penitentiary movement, 1829–1865. A P R I L 2 0 0 9 159 The essays in Two Alabama Historians are eclectic, with the only thread being the collaboration of Rogers and Ward. The essays cover topics as varied as Oscar’s Wilde’s 1882 visit to Alabama, a Civil War era story of Mississippi prisoners in the Alabama penitentiary, and two essays that deal with convict leasing in Alabama coal mines. One of their most in- fluential essays was on Jack Turner that appeared in the October 1972 Journal of Negro History. This introduction to Turner (“‘Jack Turnerism’: A Political Phenomenon of the Deep South”) was followed by a wellreceived book, August Reckoning: Jack Turner and Racism in Post–Civil War Alabama (Baton Rouge, 1973). David Ward had a special skill and a talent for writing and selecting the precise and best word, a result of having a mother who was an English professor at the University of Montevallo. He was at his best writing broad and general introductions or summations that captured the essence and the nuances of any topic. One of his finest was the short essay “Alabama Past and Future” that was the final chapter of Alabama: The History of a Deep South State (Tuscaloosa, 1994). It is fitting that this essay concludes the chapters in this volume, and David Ward’s sole authorship is recognized publicly for the first time. This volume allows one interested in Alabama history to have quick and easy access to a small collection of essays that are significant to the interpretation of the state’s past, and permits those who have followed the writing contributions of Rogers and Ward to read and review some of their finest work. LEAH RAWLS...

The Father of Alabama Historians: Professor George Petrie and His Survey of Slavery

The Father of Alabama Historians: Professor George Petrie and His Survey of Slavery GEORGE PETRIE (1866–1947) WAS ONE OF THE MOST INFLUENTIAL historians in the American South during the early twentieth century. As a professor of history at Alabama Polytechnic Institute (API), now Auburn University, he influenced a generation of southern historians and earned a national reputation as a leader in higher education. He is, however, probably best remembered for organizing and coaching Auburn’s first football team in 1892. It is unfortunate that his academic contributions have not earned him a place in the field of American historiography, for Petrie was not only “the father of Auburn football ” but was also “the father of Alabama historians.” Although he published little, his research was on the cutting edge of the historiography of his time and his methodology for the study of Alabama slavery was years ahead of the mainstream of the historical profession. In 1907 he developed a questionnaire and conducted a survey of slavery in Alabama with the intention of writing a book on the subject. From 1907 through 1913 Petrie and his students interviewed hundreds of black and white Alabamians. Sociologists had conducted this type of research for several years, but Petrie was one of the first historians to implement a survey in his research. Yet, as with most of Petrie’s research, it failed to yield a monograph as his enthusiasm eventually waned and he became interested in other topics.1 A N T H O N Y D O N A L D S O N Anthony Donaldson teaches history at Auburn University. His research focuses on the history of the American South and the history of higher education. 1 Auburn University was originally founded in 1872 as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Alabama. In 1899 the name was officially changed to the Alabama Polytechnic Institute. Finally, in 1960, the name was changed to Auburn University. For a discussion of George Petrie’s influence on athletics at Auburn see Mike Jernigan, Auburn Man: The Life & Times of George Petrie (Montgomery, 2007), and Brenda Harper Mattson, “George Petrie: The Early Years, 1866–1892” (master’s thesis, Auburn University, 1983). T H E A L A B A M A R E V I E W 38 Much of Petrie’s philosophy regarding the teaching and study of history resulted from his experiences as a student in the PhD program at Johns Hopkins University from 1889 to 1891. Johns Hopkins was one of the first universities in the United States to adopt the German model of scholarship. Several Hopkins professors had received graduate degrees from the best German universities and they brought their enthusiasm for the new scientific approach to scholarship to the school. In many ways Hopkins was different from other American universities. Visiting lecturers, for example, helped to keep students aware of the latest methods of research and scholarly debates . Probably the most important contribution Hopkins made to American higher education was the “seminary,” or seminar, which many of the European-trained faculty introduced to their students. In these classes a group of twenty or thirty graduate students discussed various topics, listened to a professor’s lecture, or wrote essays on their research. The seminar was modeled after the laboratory approach of the natural sciences, whereby, according to Jurgen Herbst, “research was to begin with the detailed examination of physical objects that could be measured, weighed, analyzed, and compared, and thus humanistic and social studies were to become ‘scientific.’” The results of this research were written, discussed, and eventually published in books and scholarly journals in order to stimulate more study of a given subject. Another significant Hopkins contribution was its publication of scientific and scholarly journals and books, including Studies in Historical and Political Science. Through its press the school provided a medium for scholars to publish work that commercial publishers would not undertake.2 2 According to historian Peter Novick in chapter 2 of his work, That Noble Dream: The “Objectivity Question” and the American Historical Profession (Cambridge, UK, 1988), those historians who received their graduate educations at German universities returned to the United States with...

"Fighting Whiskey and Immorality" at Auburn: The Politics of Southern Football, 1919-1927

On sunny Saturday afternoon in early November 1927, President Spright Dowell of Alabama Polytechnic Institute, today's Auburn University, walked up gleaming white marble steps of Alabama state capitol on his way to special meeting of his school's board of trustees. The single item on agenda was motion to dismiss him from his job. During his seven-year tenure, Dowell had obtained accreditation, raised admission standards, and improved professional qualifications of faculty. He had created an administrative bureaucracy and introduced modern accounting, auditing, and purchasing procedures. Prior to his arrival, registration had been two-week-tong nightmare; now it was accomplished in two days. He energetically lobbied notoriously parsimonious Alabama legislature for increased appropriations, and when sufficient funding was not forthcoming, he orchestrated fundraising drive that collected over half million dollars. These funds paid for construction of nearly two dozen campus buildings and such vital infrastructural needs as safe and reliable water supply. Yet this solid record was overshadowed by raging public controversy sparked by decline of once-powerful Auburn football program. Dowell had deemphasized football from beginning of his tenure, and 1927 team was about to complete first winless season in school history. Trustees and football boosters publicly criticized Dowell, and delegation of students met with Governor Bibb Graves to report that student body had voted overwhelmingly for his dismissal. The trustees responded by mounting formal investigation, complete with public hearings. The flurry of charges and countercharges paralyzed campus and dominated headlines for month, and trustees now held Dowell's fate in their hands. (1) Although he likely knew that he had little chance to keep his job, Dowell remained publicly confident as he entered showdown in Graves's office. In characteristically blunt fashion, he asserted that his achievements outweighed puerile clamor of football-crazed mob. He maintained contemptuous, self-righteous attitude toward students and alumni who sought his ouster. He regarded as absurd notion that winning football program could be sine qua non of his tenure in office. He have known better. Like numerous university presidents before and since, Spright Dowell learned that vicissitudes of football can make or break collegiate administration. The trustees' meeting was brief and to point: Dowell was out, effective at end of academic year. He had dismissed his critics as an irresponsible mass possessed of mob spirit, but in end, trustees had sided with mob. (2) The Dowell controversy is partially explained as an episode in long-running struggle between athletics and academics in American higher education. Dowell was resolutely hostile to big-time intercollegiate football, and he was determined that athletic tail not wag academic dog at Auburn. He considered football program a continuous problem that threatened to ... more serious work of institution. He undertook quixotic campaign to diminish the unnatural and exaggerated position which [football] occupies in eyes of students and of public. He suggested that intercollegiate sports were no more important than intramural athletic competition, intercollegiate debate teams, student orchestras, dramatic club, glee club, or agricultural and engineering societies. Dowell seemed to think that if he lectured campus community and public zealously enough about dangers of big-time football, he could convince them that their priorities were misplaced. Colleges, he insisted, existed primarily to train men of character for business of life, and football should not be allowed to sidetrack or eclipse real purpose for which this institution exists. …

The Role of the Pharmacist in Confederate Hospitals

Journal Article The Role of the Pharmacist in Confederate Hospitals Get access Norman H. Franke, Ph.D. Norman H. Franke, Ph.D. Assistant Professor of Pharmacy Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn, Ala. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar American Journal of Hospital Pharmacy, Volume 15, Issue 8, 1 August 1958, Pages 657–658, https://doi.org/10.1093/ajhp/15.8.657 Published: 01 August 1958

Collembola Damage to Seedling Cotton1

Journal Article Collembola Damage to Seedling Cotton Get access B. L. Owen, B. L. Owen 2 2Present address: Department of Zoology-Entomology, Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar W. L. Owen, Jr. W. L. Owen, Jr. Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Journal of Economic Entomology, Volume 51, Issue 2, 1 April 1958, Pages 252–253, https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/51.2.252 Published: 01 April 1958 Article history Accepted: 23 December 1957 Published: 01 April 1958

Alabama Polytechnic Institute

Alabama Polytechnic Institute

A Possible Occurrence of Avian Leukosis in the Wild Turkey

In June of 1957 a complete skeleton of a wild turkey (Meleagris gallopavo) was found approximately 10 miles north of Tallahassee in Leon County, Florida. The bones of this bird showed abnormal calcium deposits to an extensive degree (Fig. 1). The skeleton was mailed to Dr. A. O. Haugen, Leader of the Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit, Auburn, Alabama, for examination by the School of Veterinary Medicine at the Alabama Polytechnic Institute. Dr. W. E. Ribelin carefully examined the skeleton by radiographs and other means and concluded that the pathologic condition of the skeleton probably represents an atypical type of the osteopetrotic form of avian leukosis. It is atypical in that the metatarsi are not involved, nor is there any encroachment upon the cortex or marrow cavity of the bone. Dr. Ribelin conjectures that perhaps this may be the characteristic response of the wild turkey to this disease. The disease essentially is one of diffuse periosteal proliferation and ossification affecting most all of the long bones of the body as well as the pelvis. The possibility occurs that, had the disease affected the metatarsi as it typically does in domestic poultry, the turkey would have been so handicapped that it would have been destroyed by predators long before it reached the advanced stage indicated in Fig. 1. The skeleton was found intact, the bird apparently having died as a result of the osteopetrotic form of avian leukosis.

Extension Agronomist—Past, Present and Future1

Agronomy JournalVolume 49, Issue 12 p. 645-646 Article Extension Agronomist—Past, Present and Future1 J. C. Lowery, J. C. Lowery Extension Agronomist, Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn, Ala.Search for more papers by this author J. C. Lowery, J. C. Lowery Extension Agronomist, Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn, Ala.Search for more papers by this author First published: 01 December 1957 https://doi.org/10.2134/agronj1957.00021962004900120009xCitations: 2 1 Address given at the fiftieth anniversary meeting of the American Society of Agronomy, Atlanta, Ga., November 19, 1957. AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinkedInRedditWechat No abstract is available for this article.Citing Literature Volume49, Issue12December 1957Pages 645-646 RelatedInformation

William T. Porter and the "Spirit of the Times": A Study of the Big Bear School of Humor

Journal Article William T. Porter and the “Spirit of the Times”: A Study of the Big Bear School of Humor. By Norris W. Yates. (Baton Rouge: Louisiana State University Press, 1957. xii + 222 pp. Illustrations, notes, bibliography, and index. $5.00.) Get access Eugene Current-Garcia Eugene Current-Garcia Alabama Polytechnic Institute Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Journal of American History, Volume 44, Issue 3, December 1957, Pages 553–554, https://doi.org/10.2307/1887036 Published: 01 December 1957

The Effects of Relaxed Selection on Performance of a Strain of Disease-Resistant White Leghorns

WITHIN recent years the effect of relaxed selection on the economic traits of poultry has been the subject of much speculation. From a practical point of view, the effects of such selection are of considerable importance to the poultry industry. Strains resulting from years of genotypic selection are frequently reproduced by hatcherymen for several generations with little or no genotypic selection. In some instances, unsatisfactory performance of such strains may unjustly damage the original breeder’s reputation. To look at the other side of the picture, many hatcherymen return to the breeder each year for breeding stock, but with little certainty of the necessity of doing so.In 1948 the Agricultural Experiment Station of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute released a strain of disease-resistant Single Comb White Leghorns resulting from many years of genotypic selection in an environment with severe exposure to disease, particularly leucosis. The frequency of return for breeding stock …

Gray Fox Reproduction, Denning, Range, and Weights in Alabama

One has only to scan any general bibliography of mammal studies to observe that a large number of investigations have been conducted on the red and gray foxes. Particularly impressing was the large number of food habits investigations reported. It was noted that far more studies have been conducted on the red fox than on the gray, particularly from the standpoint of physical characteristics, breeding, and range of activity. For the Southeast, relatively few references were found on physical characteristics of the gray fox. Very little information is available on results of tagging or banding gray foxes. No reference could be located on spermatogenesis in the gray fox. This paper reports the findings of an investigation on breeding, denning, and range of activity of the gray fox, Urocyon cinereoargenteus , in Alabama. The material is taken from a thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of requirements for a Master of Science Degree in Game Management at Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn. For field expenses and equipment for the study I am indebted to the Alabama Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit which is jointly supported by the Alabama Department of Conservation, U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Wildlife Management Institute, and the Alabama Polytechnic Institute Agricultural Experiment Station. I am grateful to Dr. Arnold 0. Haugen, Leader of the Unit, who suggested the study, provided guidance, and assisted in preparation of this manuscript. The cooperation of Mr. T. J. Gleaton of the Alabama Department of Conservation, who provided many of the live foxes for examination is sincerely appreciated. Materials and methods .—A total of 117 gray foxes, 58 males and 59 females, were examined over a period of 15 months extending from October, 1952, to December, 1953. Data on weights and measurements of some of these foxes were excluded due to the condition of …

Control of Mites Infesting Earthworm Beds1

Journal Article Control of Mites Infesting Earthworm Beds Get access L. L. Hyche L. L. Hyche Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Agricultural Experiment Station, Auburn Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Journal of Economic Entomology, Volume 49, Issue 3, 1 June 1956, Pages 409–410, https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/49.3.409 Published: 01 June 1956

The European Corn Borer in Alabama1

Journal Article The European Corn Borer in Alabama Get access W. G. Eden W. G. Eden Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Agricultural Experiment Station, Auburn Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Journal of Economic Entomology, Volume 49, Issue 3, 1 June 1956, Pages 410–411, https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/49.3.410 Published: 01 June 1956

Age Determination of Foxes by X-Ray of Forefeet

An investigation of breeding, denning and range of the red fox (Vulpes fulva) and the gray fox (Urocyon cinereoargenteus) in Alabama provided an opportunity to record certain age characteristics. Emphasis was placed on the possibility of identifying young of the year among older foxes by the condition of the epiphyses of the bones in the forefeet as determined by X-ray. Similar X-ray studies of the upper tibial epiphysis of dogs (Schlotthauer and Janes, 1952, Amer. Jour. Vet. Res. 13(46): 90) have indicated that the femoral and upper tibial epiphyses close at about the age of 10 months. Two foxes, a red and a gray, were available for these studies during the first fall (1952) of the investigation. The approximate age of each fox was known since they were captured while small. X-rays of the lower radius and ulna of these foxes were made at intervals (Table 1, Animals 2134 and B). The first two X-rays (October and November) showed that cartilage still separated the epiphyses on the radius and ulna from the diaphysis or shaft. The December X-rays showed the epiphyseal plate beginning to disappear but not completely ossified. Unfortunately the red fox escaped in December. An X-ray of the gray fox in early January showed the epiphyses of both the radius and ulna completely ossified. The following fall two young red foxes and two young gray foxes were used in similar X-ray studies. One of these red foxes also escaped before the investigation was completed. X-rays late in December of the remaining red fox and the grays showed the epiphyses almost completely ossified. X-rays of the fore-feet of seven foxes of unknown ages in January and February showed the epiphyses of both the radius .and ulna completely ossified. It appears that foxes can be classified dependably as adults or as young of the year through November by means of X-rays of the distal epiphyses of the radius and ulna (Figure 1). Some young foxes were distinguishable through most of December. This indicates that ossification is completed in foxes between eight and nine months of age. A faint and incomplete line along the epiphyseal plate is still visible on some foxes in January at which time they are approximately 10 months old. Whelping of foxes in Alabama occurs primarily during late March and April (Sullivan, 1953, M.S. Thesis, Alabama Polytechnic Institute). To test this technique, 60 fox feet were secured from trappers who were trapping for bounty in connection with a fox control campaign in Lee County, Alabama. Most of these foxes were trapped at or near dens in late summer and fall. The feet were first preserved in alcohol-formalin solution, then dried and pinned on cardboard squares of the same size as the X-ray negatives to be used. As many as 25 feet were X-rayed at one time. By studying the X-rays, it was a simple matter to separate the adult foxes from young of the year. Forty-four (73 per cent) of the 60 foxes were juveniles. Subsequent experiments showed that fox feet can be dried fresh without preservative and kept for several months before they are X-rayed. The clearest egatives were secured when the feet were layed directly on the film holder and X-rayed without being first pinned to cardboard. The foreleg when removed from the fox should be cut off above the joint at the pad, preferably halfway up on the first long bones (radius and ulna). Successful X-rays were made on Kodak (no screen) safety film No. 246 with exposures of 60 KVP at 20 MA at one-half-second. All exposures were made at 36. Personnel of the Small Animal Clinic of Alabama Polytechnic Institute did the X-raying. By X-raying fox feet collected from trappers through November, biologists can determine the ratio of young to old foxes harvested. The final date for collecting feet in different regions should be not later than eight months following the earliest whelping of fox pups in that area. Information on percentage of young should provide a better understanding of productivity of the fox. This technique has two principal advantages: (1) it permits determination of age without having the entire carcass in hand, and (2) it permits accurate determination of the ratio of young of the year to older foxes for about three months longer 1 A contribution from the Alabama Cooperative Wildlife Research Unit; jointly sponsored by the Alabama Department of Conservation, Alabama Polytechnic Institute Agricultural Experiment Station, the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, and the Wildlife Management Institute.

EFFECT OF SOIL pH AND CALCIUM ON UPTAKE OF ZINC BY PLANTS

Alabama Polytechnic Institute Contribution from the department of agronomy and soils, Agricultural Experiment Station, Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn, Alabama.

Relative Toxicity of Six Insecticides to Two Strains of the House Fly1

Journal Article Relative Toxicity of Six Insecticides to Two Strains of the House Fly Get access M. W. Marsh, M. W. Marsh Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Agricultural Experiment Station, Auburn Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar W. G. Eden W. G. Eden Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Agricultural Experiment Station, Auburn Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic PubMed Google Scholar Journal of Economic Entomology, Volume 48, Issue 5, 1 October 1955, Pages 610–611, https://doi.org/10.1093/jee/48.5.610 Published: 01 October 1955

The Effect of Soil Treatments on the Tannin Content of Lespedeza Sericea1

Agronomy JournalVolume 47, Issue 2 p. 83-86 Article The Effect of Soil Treatments on the Tannin Content of Lespedeza Sericea1 Clarence M. Wilson, Clarence M. Wilson Associate Soil Chemist.Search for more papers by this author Clarence M. Wilson, Clarence M. Wilson Associate Soil Chemist.Search for more papers by this author First published: 01 February 1955 https://doi.org/10.2134/agronj1955.00021962004700020010xCitations: 3 1 Contribution from the Department of Agronomy and Soils, Alabama Agr. Exp. Sta. of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, Auburn, Ala. Approved for release by the Director. AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume47, Issue2February 1955Pages 83-86 RelatedInformation

Desegregation of Public Education in Alabama

The case of the state of Alabama is a significant one among the seventeen states being reported on in this oneyear-after appraisal. Its significance is to be found in the facts of virtually nothing having been done about segregated schools in the state and very little having been said about them. This donothing, say-nothing position applies to both those who may be expected to be concerned about desegregation and those who may be expected to be concerned about maintaining segregation. This state of affairs obtained prior to May 17, 1954 and it has not changed since that historic date. When Talladega College opened its doors to white students in 1944 no alarm was sounded and any hosannas were muted. The few white students who matriculated there have apparently been a matter of no serious concern. Very little attention has been given to the admission of Negro students to Spring Hill College at Mobile in September, 1954. Both of these colleges are church-supported institutions. The former is maintained by the American Missionary Association of the Congregational Church and the latter is a Catholic institution. So far as publicsupported schools, at all levels are concerned, nothing, just nothing, has happened. The Gaines decision was six years old in 1954 and there had come in its wake decisions in the Sipuel, Sweatt, and McLaurin cases extending educational opportunities for Negroes. After 1948 public and private colleges and universities in many parts of the South admitted Negro students. In Alabama, no Negro student had been admitted to a public-supported institution of higher learning and no serious legal relief from this circumstance had been sought. No determined effort has yet been put forth in the courts to open the doors of the University of Alabama, the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, or any one of the several state teachers colleges. In 1952 two Negro students sought admission to the University of Alabama and upon denial appealed to the Board of Trustees of the University and were again denied. Court action was instituted in July, 1953; the case was dismissed in October as being improperly filed. An appeal was made in November, 1953. The case has not been vigorously prosecuted and no other court action has been taken during 1954 and 1955. No action had been initiated to secure the admission of Negro children to elementary or secondary schools attended by white children. This placid status quo of the well-separated twain was not disturbed before May 17, 1954, and has not been disturbed since that date which has so far proved to be fateful in promise only, if and when some effort is made to fulfill its legal promise. What is true of education is also true of other areas of public service where segregation remains practically com-