Evening Star Newspaper, October 9, 1937, Page 19

ART NOTES. L _ : ; = i : FINE DISTRICT ARTS e g : : Landscape Club’s Exhibition Shows Works Which Are Up to High Pro- fessional Standard. “Truck Farm,” by Roy Clark, in the Landscape Ciub'’s e. By Leila Mechlin. HE Landscape Club of Wash- ington has set forth an excel- lent exhibition in the Arts Club. This organization is composed chiefly of men who turn to art as an avocation—painting, drawing, etching. directing hours usually given over to recreation—the pure pleasure of the doing coupled with potential achievement. But the works they are showing are fully up to professional standard. Of course gome of the exhibitors are profes- gional, such, for instance, as Charles Bittinger. who shows not a landscape, but an interior, “The Drawing Room at Arlington House"; Winfield Scott Clime, Alexander Clayton and others. The entire gallery is given over to works in ol and among these are canvases dispi: ngth in exe- cution and ind v of viewpoint. 6. Peter Wagner exhibits a dramatic landscape suggestive of the crags and vallevs of the English lake regions; while on an opposite wall hangs a no less impressive transeription of colorful mesas in our own great Southwest, painted forcefully by Alfred Schmidt. Roy Clark contributes a very dec- | orative transcription of plowed fields bounded by trees. And from Edward §. Shorter of Georgia, a non-resident member, has come a paintinz of Southern farm country. rendered with directness and outstanding s:m- plicity Rowland Tyon shows two small canvases, one a lighthouse without buildings and the other of two small boats on the sands awaiting an in- coming tide, both very pleasing in color and skillfully rendered, high in key, fresh in handling. Ruel P. Tolman, in charge of the national art collections of the Smithsonian Institution, as well as head of the division of graphic arts of the National Museum. shows & emall painting of sea and sky, & nocturne with which it would be pleasant to live, a charming picture. His colleague. Allen Sherwin, is, by * the way, represented in the adjacent reception room by an etching of a boat with sails set, an admirable com- position and very sensitively etched. Minor Jameson makes but a single eontribution, a fairly large canvas, and painted presumably this Summer in Vermont, showing fenced lowlands leading up to distant hills which mark mistily the high horizon. Deli- cate in color and subtle in subject, this painting in unity of expression and lyric quality stands quite by itself. Somewhat in the same category are landscapes by Frank J. MacKenzie, Benson B. Moore, Tom Brown, the last at his best, in a landscape en- titled “Shenandoah Mountaihs,” a gimple compasition with foreground interest and well-defined planes. Roger Rittase has sent a striking picture, “Gaspe Countryside,” a grave- yard with erosses as markings of dom- inating interest. Alexander Clayion's contribution is of cactus flowers; Winfield Scott Clime sends an elaborate and beauti- fully rendered composition, regal lilies, with shell and bowl as accessories glso an elaborate theme, a village nocturne. Tt is early evening: there iz a light in a nearby window, pecple on the street and a ghost of a church steeple may be discerned starding guard on the hillside. HERE is in this exhibition no end of variety in subject matter. A. Y THE rhidition at Ihe‘j&rl.t Club of Washington. Smithsonian Institution & vew years | ago and highly commended, but the extraordinary skill distinguishing his work now on display puts it in a class | entirely its own. Art, like beauty, is difficult to define, but easy to recognize when once seen. At a glance these drypoints by Mr. Washburn proclaim themselves the work of one rarely talented and ex- ceptionally trained, one whose vision is unerring, taste supreme, hand obedient. The portrait heads are of peoples met in many lands, working people of, perhaps, lowly birth, but of character, | not merely persons, but personalities, | vital-real.” Wit the utmost simplicity and subtlety, Mr. Washburn has por- | trayed them, set them before us, given . them, as did Rembrandt his Dutch contemporaries, immortality. To see | an artist turn from portraiture of | such caliber to the rendition of land- scape with apparent ease is astound- | |ing. Twenty years ago Mr. Wash- burn’s etchings of places and build- ings were sensitive and poetic, but in | the landscapes he now exhibits there is epic as well as lyric quality, dignity | and strength as well as sheer beauty. | There is also great variety in handling. If line alone seemed to suffice he has found it sufficient. But when velvety shadow in mass makes the picture, he employs it with no less | skill. Among the landscape and sub- ject prints one may stumble across a reminder of Rembrandt, or Haden, or Whistler, but study the print more closely, it will be found not an echo | of a past master, but the expression of one of today, simple and frank and essentially personal. This is art of a very high order, so rare and so fine that it defies analysic and disarms criticism. Its production, further- more, seems to have been completely without self-conscious thought or ef- fort and therein perhaps lies some of | its charm and tremendus appeal. Ecxhibition of Woodcuts by Lankes Sponsored by Weils College Club. N INTERESTING contrast to the drypoints of Mr. Washburn, be- | cause of the great diversity of medium | used, are the woodcuts of J. J. Lankes, | set forth simultaneously in the Corcoran Gallery of Art. A drypoint is made with a needle | on a copper plate, like an engraving | without its rigidity, like an etching | but unbitten by acid. A woodeut is | made with knife or graver on a wooden | block. In the one the lines cut in the | plate hold the ink. In the other this | function is performed by those left standing on the block. The woodcut came into existence with the discovery of printing and has a very definite | relation to the printed page, especially to hand-cut. upstanding type. It is {one of the oldest of the graphic arts and was practiced by such great | masters as Durer and Holbein. | One of the greatest contributions | that we in America have made to the | art of the world is in this field. For | | in the latter half of the last century a number of American makers nf‘ | wondcuts for book and magazine fllus- rations developed the white line | method of wood engraving to a height it had never before reached. Chief i among these innovators were Timothy | | Cole and Henry Wolf, neither now | living. But these and other American | wood engravers of the past century | gave their time and efforts to re- producing the work of others. Since then there has arisen a school of | accents of deep purple, is the same in | to these shores in the service of beauty. J. Ted Muerer shows the doorway of | prinimakers who have used the wood the Lafavette House, Alexandria, With | cut again as a medium of original ex- fts charming fan-light; William F. pression. Outstanding among these is Walter contributes a painting of a|j . Lankes, 47 of whose prints are bridge in Yellowstone Park; James R. | Turner sends a picture of a steel mill; | Oke Nordgren has painted a sand pit. | One of the two places of honor has been given to a painting by O. R. Carrington of an old house, “Land's Meadow,” built in 1680, with its out- buildings, well grouped. above which 1s nung an equally colorful work, “The Creek Farm,” by Robert E. Motley. A. H. O. Rolle, A. J. Schram, Garnet Jex, R. Bruce Horsfall and John U. Perkins are all likewise represented at their best. Some of these painters are found represented by work in other media hung in the recefition room and hall where water colors, etchings and block prints occupy the walls and may be seen to excellent advantage. Prize awards made for the first time n the Landscape Club exhibition were announced last Thursday (after these notes were in type) and will be pre- sented tomorrow afternoon at the tea previously noted. On account of the “Foire aux Croutes” to be held at the Arts Club on the 14th, 15th and 16th, this exhibition will be taken down on Wednesday the 13th and re- hung the following Monday, the 18th, continuing then until the 22d. Dry Point Portraits and Landscapes by Cadwallader Washburn of Rare Merit. N[O ONE who is interested in prints or a connoisseur of etching can fail to find delight in the collection of drypoints by Cadwallader Wash- burn now on view in the upper atrium of the Corcoran Gallery of Art. Of the 45 prints in this exhibition nearly three-fourths are portraits and the others for the most part landscapes. The variety in subject heightens, on the whole, the effect. This is not the first time that Mr. Washburn has ex- now on view in the Corcoran Gallery | of Art, under the auspices of the Wells College Club of Washington. The difference between a wood cut and a wood engraving is that the former is cut with the grain on a wood block with a knife, while the latter is cut with a graver on such a block against the grain. A simpler dif- ferentiation, however, to keep in mind, is that & wood cut, as a rule, shows masses of black and white with few structural lines, whereas the engraving is chiefly linear. Linoleum is sometimes substituted for wood in the first instance. Both methods call for simplicity of design and almost poster-like directness on the part of the artist. Not infrequently both methods are employed on the same block, in which case they be- come almost indistinguishable. Half way between Thomas W. Nason, our outstanding wood engraver today, and Charles Smith, & most clever con- temporary maker of wood cuts, stands Lankes, whose prints have some of the refinement of the first and the sim- plicity of the second. In this goodly company are such well-known artists and makers of wood cuts as Rudolf Ruzicka, Asa Cheffetz, Rockwell Kent, Clare Leighton, the last of England. All of these have employed the wood cut as a medium for illustrations, mak- ing, invariably, original prints, and adapting them to the accompanying text. Mr. Lankes has thus illustrated numerous books, among them ‘“West Running Brook” and “New Hamp- shire,” by Robert Frost, “Spring Ploughing” and “Upper Pasture,” by Charles Malan, and “The Goodhues of Sinking Creek,” by W. R. Burnett. Since 1917, Mr. Lankes has cut over nine hundred blocks. Among his own writings which he has illustrated are “Virginia Wood Cuts,” (some of which hibited in Washington. A collection of his drypoints was shown in the A are included in this exhibition) and “A Wood Cut Manual,” an authorif \ tive and much quoted work. In the best sense, his wood cuts set forth | what may be properly designated as the “American Scene.” Mr. Lankes is & lecturer on the fine arts in Wells | College in New York. Superb New Decorations by Augustus Vincent Tack. A MONG the special attractions set ™ forth in the Phillips Memorial | Gallery upon its recent reopening are | two new decorations by Augustus Vin- | cent Tack, both of which are hung in ! the main gallery on the second floor. | The larger of the two—a horizontal panel—has been placed at the end of the gallery directly opposite the en- trance. Tt is therefore the first thing one sees upon ascending the stairs and | the impression on the instant is | pleasing. In the same manner and mood as Mr. Tack’s previous decora- tive paintings it marks advance both In conception and execution. While it is completely abstract it is su- premely beautiful and translates the | beholder to & new world. The subject suggests mountains— great heights, great depths. silhouetted against a golden, luminous sky. Pos- | sessing the unbelievable beauty of Na- ture it is of no place known or ac- tually seen. As one looks into this | picture. many forms are disceruible, | none of which is actual—forms such | as one sees in the clouds or among the flames of & wood fire. It is re- markable that anyone could be so | intangible and yet so real. In no in- stance has Mr. Tack used familiar symbols and yet throughout his paint- ing there is suggestion of a living world. It is a fragment from the far country of dreams, a vision of those things upon which the eye of man | hath not yet rested. The smaller of the two panels which is upright rather than horizontal is | basically similar but in effect less over- whelming. The color scheme of biue | and green, yellow and dull red, with | both instances. but one is far from be- | ing & repetition of the other. The | larger panel is distinctly three dimen- | sional; the smaller panel but two. (Published in “A Collection in the Making.") way these works are done. He says: EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, “Garibaldi Veteran,” a dry point etching by Cadwallader Washburn, one of 45 of his prints now being shown at the Cor= coran Gallery of Art. BULLETIN OF EXHIBITIONS CORCORAN GALLERY OF ART—Permanent collections, foreign paintings of the nineteenth cen- paintings and sculpture; American tury; the W. A. Clark Collection, paintings, rugs, tapestries, lace, etc.; Barye bronzes, etchings and engravings: special exhibition of drypoint J. J. Lankes. portraits by Cadwallader Washburn and wood cuts by NATIONAL MUSEUM, NATIONAL ART COLLECTION—The W. T. Evans Collection of Amer and Ralph Cross Johnson can paintings, of paintings and objets d'art, Collection the Gelletly Collection Collection the old Harriet lLane Johnston of paintings by masters, miniatures, Herbert Ward Collection African sculpture, etc. SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION, DIVISION OF GRAPHIC ARTS— Exhibits illustrating graphic art methods . Special exhibition of color wood block prints by Walter J. Phillips of Canada. FREER GALLERY OF ART—Permanent collection shown in chang- ing exhibitions, Oriental paintings, bronzes, sculpture and potteries, etc. Paintings, drawings and priuts by Whistler; the Peacock room, paintings by other American artista. LIBRARY OF CONGRESS, DIVISION OF FINE ARTS—Exhibition of prints by contemporary printmakers. nell, illustrations by American illustrators, plication. PHILLIPS MEMORIAL GALLERY—Permaneut, Lithographs by Joseph Pen- Other prints upon ap- changing collection of paintings by modern artists and great masters, Special exhibi- tion of drawings by Pierre Bonnard and drawings and etchings by Aristides Maillol. Also new decorations by Augustus Vincent Tack and canvases by other well-known artists lately acquired. STUDIO HOUSE—Exhibition arranged by Raymond and Raymond, showing process of making color reproductions of works of art. ARTS CLUB OF WASHINGTON—Annual exhibition Washington Land- scape Club—oils. water colors and prints. THE PUBLIC LIBRARY—Exhibition of reproductions—for the most part in color—of masterpieces of painting in the Mellon National Gallery Collection. GEORGETOWN BRANCH—Children's work by the Turkenton Saturday morning class. HOWARD UNIVERSITY GALLERY OF ART—Exhibition of reproduc- tions of living American art. Tack drags & jeweled incrustation, for ‘the time element’ inherent in mu- In a brief estimate of the painter | ilm over film, leaving & surface rich | sic. We are lured away on wonderful Mr. Phillips has told something of the | in light yet flat in texture. With | Journeys of the eye and the mind over | & chromatic orchestra of fused earth | maplike color areas suggesting the in- Over a prepared canvas and a| colors, attuned to harmony and re-|terwoven or conflicting interests and solid underpainting with strong edges, | strained in power, the painter seeks | pleasures of life, to unities of concep- D. €, SATURDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1937. “Highland Light,” by Rowland Lyon, Club of Washington. | tion which are invariably on & high | spiritual plane. Improvising on the theme of high mountains Tack sees the majesty of omnipotent purpose emerging in sublime symmetry out of the turbulence of storm, or slowly shaplng the earth in the conlinuous movement, speaking ss of human Yearning in the various voices of many | | waters. Symphonic compositions are | | bullt upon repetitions of chosen forms | selected from the accidents of Nature | and of his own alchemy.” There have been many today who have striven to express that which is abstract through the medium of painting, but the majority who have %0 striven have only succeeded in pro- ducing puzzle pictures, because they have resorted to the use of symbols familiar and with fixed associations. Also they have utterly disregarded the Ppotentialities of beauty. Mr. Tuck has not fallen into either of these errors. He uses no symbols and invents his own forms. He is consclous of, and mukes manifest in | all of his works, beauty, which is ele- | mental and everlasting. There has | always seemed to be » close relation- ship between the decorative paintings | by Tack and the strong head of “The Egyptian Youth,” which is one of the prized possessions of the Phillips | Memorial Gallery, and why? Because they both are based on the elemental, | on that which is inherent to all great | |art, 10 the creative works of both | God and Man, Augnstus Vincent Tack was born in | Pittsburgh, studied art in Paris and | New York with Mowbray and La| Farge. He married a daughter of | George Fuller, one of our American geniuses, and lived for some years| on the Fuller farm at Deerfleld. He | | has painted subject pictures and por- traits as well as mural decoration. All of his works have a spiritual quality | which he himself believes inseparable from life. Scholarly Work of Giorgione by Duncan Phillips Published. UNCAN PHILLIPS, founder and director of the Phillips Memorial Gallery, is thought of most frequently as a leading exponent of modern art, despite the fact that his acquisitions | for public showing have included | works by old as well as modern mas- ters and that he has repeatedly de- SCULPTOR’S VISION TO BEAUTIFY Legislator From Louisiana Brings Artist to Make Groups for Garden. By Lucy Salamanca. FEW miles from the District line in Maryland, beside the quiet waters of the bay, a | little open shed stands among age-old oaks. It is not an ordinary | shed. It is, In a way, touched with the magic of creation. For into it are moved, from time to time, great | blocks of limestone, dug from the mountains of France and transported And out of it emerge these same great blocks of limestone in the form of enchanting maidens, of such grace and symmetry as must have distinguished the goddesses of the seasons them- selves. “Summer" has been carved with rare skill and infinite loveliness from one of those blocks, “Spring” is even now taking shape under the hammer and chisel, and before the work going on in that little shed is completed, “Autumn” and “Winter” will have been moved out into the sunlight and shadows of a Louisiana garden, bright with azaleas. For these four seasons, in the form of four sculptured maidens, are being carved for Les Jardins de Mouton, the delightful gardens of Representative Robert L. Mouton of Louisiana, and will be shipped down to take their places on the formal terraces as soon as they are completed. THE sculptor and artist engaged in this work is Thomas James Coutts Bain of Philadelphia, who is making Maryland his home many months to come—or during the execution of the task in hand. Before that task is fin- ished he will have sculptured, in addi tion to the figures of the four seasons, & group to be named “Eternal Spring- time” and two other groups to be de- cided on. He has already completed and shipped to the Representative in Louisiana & figure of Evangeline, which will shortly be unveiled in Les Jardins de Mouton. It is an impressive work, weighing 7 tons, and represents the maid of Acadia in a characteristic pose in the picturesque dress of the Acadian country. Mr. Bain has also carved out of stone a lifelike and artistic ram—the sheep signifying the name of the Congressman in his native French, “Mouton.” Mr. Bain is known in this country for his fine portraiture and for his sculpture. There hangs at present in the White House his excellent like- ness of President Roosevelt, and on the estate of Joseph Widener in Phila- delphia many of his works of art beautify the gardens, including foun- tain and other groups. His beautiful conceptions of the four seasons, upon which he is now working for Repre- sentative Mouton, bid fair to add to » { The sculptor, Thomas James Coutts Bain, at work on the figure of “Spring,” which will be placed in the Louisiana gardens of Representative Robert L. Moulton. the sculptor’s fame, for they are fig- ures of consummate grace and artistry, markedly original in conception. The young maiden representing Summer typifies fruition and the vigor of youth. She stands with her left hand resting on a tree stump, her left knee bent slightly forward. Her right arm is raised, the elbow and forearm making a gracious curve above the head, the hand dropped to permit the exquisitely wrought fingers to touch the left temple lightly. Her head is thrown back, the throat forming a taut and graceful arch. 'HE figure representing Spring is only now emerging from the lime- stone under the skillful fingers of the artist, so that no more than a faint conception of her is possible. But even in the first carving of the head and posture of the shoulders and raised arms, at this crude stage, one is given the impression of a maiden coming te life, awakening stretching her muscles in the first faint stirrings of life, Just as Spring is depicted as & young girl making ready for life, so will Autumn be pictured as a maiden ‘whose muscles give evidence of a slight but significant weariness. The figure will be in a relaxed pose, symbolic of the passing of Summer and beginning of that season which, with the earth's harvest, finds her task done and is ready for rest. Winter, following this theme of the seasons in the form of beautiful maid- ens, will show a figure in repose. The sculptor has not yet worked out the detalls of this figure, but it will, he predicts, convey an impression of ful- fillment, rest, quiet and all the serene qualities of that season. As is true with the other figures, the use of the stason imagery is only symbolic, for each figure bears, apart from this, & spiritual significance at once apparent. Within the 55 acres that make up Les Jardins de Mouton, along the old Spanish trail, in the heart of the Evangeline country, and at the out- skirts of Lafayette, La., there is a series of formal gardens, each with « foreign motif, so that, taken together, they present an international picture. HOME Seasons and Evangeline in White Limestone Are Among Rare Works. Beyond the first of these formal gar- dens, and just at the entrance of the | | second, Representative Mouton is | building & Summer lodge and it is | in this second formal garden that the | Four Seasons will be placed. The quiet waters of the Vermillion River flow through this section, and | | the white limestone maidens, mellowed | to & rosy hue by the elements, should | present & contrast of striking beauty | against the varying greens of the live oaks, magnolias, cypress and fir trees that will make up their setting. When the white dogwood and citrus are in bloom and the wild azaleas, purple iris, redbud, youpon and crabapple paint the hills and valleys of Les Jardins de Mouton with color, the Four Seasons should contribute love- liness to a scene worth coming many miles to see. AISO in the formal gardens, Repre- sentative Mouton has set up the carved ram which is symbolic of his name, and in the near future he plans to unveil, with suitable ceremonies, the charming seated statue of Evangeline. He is working out his gardens on what he terms a “five-year plan,” hoping to make of them a beauty spot rivaling or even surpassing the famed gardens of Charleston and Mobile. Trails and roads wind through the 55- cultivated acres, and every road has been designed with an eye to the preservation of vistas. Hence there are artificial lakes, sunken gardens, an outdoor theater, lagoons and cypress swamps all contributing to the picture. Within the formal gardens, the Congressman has designed rose ter- races, where rare and beautiful roses bloom in a display of riotous color. His azaleas are famed all over the country for their rare blossoms, their unusual coloring, and their sturdy beauty, and he hag dotted the gardens with the lovely camellia-japonica blossoms of the southland. Somewhere amidst ail this beauty the Congressman will have placed what promises to be one of the most beautiful of the groups to take form under the hammer and chisel of the sculptor, Thomas James Coutts Bain. This will be “Eternal Springtime,” about which Mr. Bain will tell us no more at this early date than that it will be two figures—a youth and a maiden in an embrace. The reason that he will not tell us more is that, to use his words, “it will have to grow” on him a bit first, take more definite form in his consciousness. The sculptor works almost wholly from his mental image, though he uses s live model and ‘refreshes” the mental image by means of s small ‘clay figure, executed in miniature. clarea 1t his bellef that art is time- less. Now, however, with the publication by the American Federation of Arts of & monograph by Mr. Phillips on | Giorgione, it is made known that for 20 years he has pursued with scholarly | | diligence and enthusiasm all that bore | or threw light upon the life and works | of this great Venetian painter, who in his art bridged at the most critical period in the Italian Renaissance the old and the new, ‘This s not, perhaps, either so strange or illogical as it may seem. for always Mr. Phillips has been particu- larly sensitive to beauty and its ex- pression through the medium of the | arts. Also he has been a seeker of | new truths in this field, knowing well that such pursuit often leads one up blind alleys. In his work on Giorgione Mr. Phil- | lips has had the encouragement of the leading students of Italian art ! and he has certainly left no stone | unturned toward the accomplishment | of his end. All of his researches | have been made witn scholarly dili- | gence. Giorgione, 1t will be remembered, was the pupil of Bellini and the ! teacher of Titian. Born at Castel- | franco in 1477, he lived most of his ! life in Venice, where, in 1510, he died of the plague. But in those few years he made an impress upon the | art of his time which was most re- markable, literally turning the great stream into an entirely new channel. This 15 the more astounding when the scantiness in number of the works | he left as wilness to his genius is considered. There are only three canvases which all critics agree are his from start to finish, and there | are less than 20 in the painting of which there is indisputable suggestion, | if not evidence, of the original con- | ception and inspiration of this mas- ter. Reasonably, under such circum- | stances he might well have dissolved | by now into & Giorgione myth, but, | instead, although centuries have | passed since his death, scholars still | discuss him, painters study him and | the admiring pursue him with une abated avidity. In his monograph, Mr. Phillips writes of Giorgione as of a con- temporary, & well-beloved friend; is #s partisan in his defense and as Jealous of those who have besn put before him as though he had walked with Giorgione on the Rialto, shared his confidence and his aspirations No better evidence can be found in literature of the undying quality of art and its power to transmit gread emotions from generation to generae tion. Admitling that Giorgione was less of a craftsman than either Bellini o Titian, at best, Mr. Phillips declares him to have been far greater ax & liberator and pioneer, a world mastsr of all time—"the first single-minded individual in the history of pictorial art and the first proponent of art for art’s sake” It is his belief that Cezanne and others of the Prench modern school are directly descended from this great Italian master. Mr. Phillips has spared no pains as r 83 possible to verify the facts of Giorgione's life in order to give sub- staniial foundation to these, his cone victions. From the material 50 ase sembled emerge certain outstanding bulwarks of verity. First, that the country boy, Giorgione by name, who went to Venice in 1493 and selected Bellini as his master was endowed with original genius, a good mind and & magnetic personality. Second, that he himself became a great and meal ous teacher and chose well his pupils and his foliowers. There are mors Wwho can produce an occasional mas- terpiece than can guide the genius of another to fruition. Titian was Gior- gione'’s heir. His supreme achieve- ment redounds to the credit of his master. To detract from Titian's achievement does not exalt Giorgione, Mr. Phillips writes graciously and with apparent ease, and his enthusi- asm for his subject illumines his text His presentation of the leadership of Giorgione will undoubtedly awaken thoughtful and scholarly diseussion as well as in many instances carry con- viction. America May Not Have 'First Produced Corn Term Has Been Applied to Many Different Vegetables in History, Research Shows. By Malinche Macevoy. 114 ERES” in ancient mythology was worshiped as the god- dess of corn as well as fruits. She is represented classically “as & majestic woman with "golden hair and crowned with ears of wheat; in her right hand she holds poppies and ears of corn and in her left & flaming torch.” “But how can that be true, even in mythology?” the average person will comment. “We all know, one | will go on, “that corn was not dis- covered until 1620, and as far as| writing about it goes—that is just| some writer's imagination.” We shall | A careful search into ancient doc- uments reveals that the word “corn,” however, originally meant a small, firm grain of salt, grain or sand. Henoce it was that the word first be- came pertinent to the small, hard seeds of plants, and we find it still | in the words peppercorn and barle: corn. Very often this term is inter- preted to mean the leading cereal crop of the district in which the crop is grown, For instance, in England it refers to wheat, for wheat is the largest of England’s cereal crops; in Scotland and Ireland it refers to oats for the same reason, and in the United States it refers to maize or Indian corn, which is also true of the South American countries, wherever Eng- lish is spoken. Corn means only one thing—majze. And the reason is prob- ably the same in each instance; it is the most important cereal grain grown in both countries. In the United States the bulk of the maize crop is fed to live stock. the remainder being used as food and in production of maize factory products. This country has also been | an exporter of maize for more than a | century. In the early days most of | the shipments went to the West In-| dies and only & small quantity to Europe. Shortages of staples, like bread and feed grain, caused Great Britain and Ireland to import maize | in great amounts. IN RECENT years the United States has imported quite a bit of maize from Argentina, for the reason that the seaboard markets found it far more economical to do this than to bring it from the interior surplus areas. The early Indians, when possible, always planted one or two crabs or fish in the holes with the kernels of corn as a fertilizer. They also planted pump- kins or beans between the rows of cornstalks. Not having improved im- plements of any sort they were reduced to the necessity of using shoulder biades of buffalo, elk horns, or clam shells. Imagine the farmer of today getting along in this fanner. In addition to Argentina, Chili also grows much maize. And from Amer- A ica. it has also been introduced into Servia, where the climate of the country seems o suit its growth. Then | too, being a pioneer’s crop it doss not need much attention. It is also grown to a large degres in Lower . where the natives use its stalks for fuel, and while it is still green for cattle food. They also build houses for the fellahin with it, so it ssems they have not overlooked any use to which it might be put. There is some argument about the origin of this interesting grain among which there are a few of particular note. In the ancient tombs of Peru, small grains of an unknown varfety of corn have been unearthed. Then, it i | sald that Darwin discovered heads of maize burled in the Peruvian shore 85 feet above sea-level. Then there is the historian Bonafous who quotes authorities as aceepting that corn came from Asia, and about the same time it was stated by Santa Rosa de Viterbo that Arabs brought it into Spain during the thirteenth century. A drawing of maize is also offered as evidence by Bonafous from | & Chinese work on natural history, dated 1562, about 60 years after the discovery of the New World. But in spite of all these stories the modern view is that maize, or just plain corn to all Americans, originated in Amer- ica, where it had been cultivated at the period of the New World's dissov- ery. Well, no matter whether an Arab discovered it or an Indian, eorn atill remains one of Dame Nature's most luscious vegetables, Housing Experiments. THE movement for prefabricated houses is given some support as & result of experiments ecarried on at the Forest Products Laboratory eonducted in Wisconsin by the Porest Service Experimental houses have been built with prefabricated wood panels from three to four feet wide and as much as 15 feet long. Plywood has been used in the work, the rigidity of this material giving support rather than acting s a bur- den on the joists. As & result, the joists have actually been reducad in size, 6-inch joists being employsd in place of the usual 10 inch, U. S. Holds Lead. {STIMATED supplies of phosph: rock in the world are met at 18,000,000,000 tons by the Department of Agriculture. The United States possesses more than a third, Russia nearly a third and South Africa holds the greater part of the remaining sup- Pplies. Europe alone uses about 6.000.000 tons & year and Japan about 1.000,000 tons. Japan's supplies in the man- dated islands she controls are set at 41,000,000 tons, putting a decided limit on how long she can maintais her self-sufficiency.