William Hunt (businessman)

Sir William Duffus Hunt (2 December 1867 – 18 September 1939) known before his knighthood as W D Hunt, was a leading New Zealand businessman of the first half of the 20th century. With his partner James Johnstone, he built one of Australasia's leading stock and station agencies, Wright Stephenson & Co.
Early life and family.
New Zealand-born of Gloucestershire wool-growing stock Hunt was the only son and eldest child of John Hunt, a farmer and early settler at Oruru, Northland, and his wife Maria Frances, daughter of Jamaica-born Etonian Rev John Duffus M A, vicar of St Andrew, Mangonui.
He was born on 2 December 1867 in Oruru, Northland, New Zealand.
Hunt married twice. At Gore on 20 December 1894 he married Ismene Helena Stanley. Ismene had a daughter and a son before she died in May 1900. Two years later, 15 May 1902, Hunt married Jessie Belstead Edwards in Adelaide, South Australia. There was just one child of the second marriage, a second son.
Career.
Recruit.
William Hunt joined stock and station agency Wright Stephenson proper in 1891. His ability was recognised by Johnstone much earlier when he was employed by them for just two months at shearing time on Wright Stephenson-managed Blackstone Hill station in the Maniatoto. Though only 17 he was kept on at the station as a permanent shepherd and soon took over the bookkeeping of the station and then its management. When Blackstone Hill station was subdivided in 1891 23 year old Hunt organised the muster and auction of the tens of thousands of sheep on the property. He was also required to act as auctioneer in the absence of George Stephenson of Wright Stephenson. J A Johnstone who had personally clerked the sale was so impressed he offered Hunt a position on the staff of Wright Stephenson & Co.
Gore.
The same year the partners in Wright Stephenson decided it was time to open their first branch. They chose Gore on the banks of the Mataura river and sent William Hunt to organise it though within three years times had become so hard it was deemed prudent to close Gore and confine operations to Otago. In spite of their difficulties Hunt's well chosen Gore customers all settled their accounts in full. In 1896 the government resumed borrowing overseas making advances to settlers on freeholds and long term leaseholds at moderate interest rates and the farming outlook improved. Gore was re-opened and another branch opened at Invercargill, Hunt being made responsible for all Southland province. Johnstone remained in Otago.
Control of Wright Stephenson.
When the founding partners withdrew from the firm with the turn of the century Johnstone and Hunt acquired the major holdings of the shares in the firm. As the rabbit pest was brought under control their customers began to prosper once more and Wright Stephenson was incorporated as a public company in 1906. The initial directors were J A Johnstone (chairman) Hunt and P L Wright, Johnstone and Hunt were joint managing directors. In early 1907 Johnstone's health failed and he took 12 months leave to recuperate. Over that time W D Hunt acted as Chairman as well as sole managing director and when Johnstone returned to work he resumed the joint managing directorship but he acknowledged William Hunt's achievements and Hunt stayed Chairman of Directors. Hunt managed to visit every one of his firm's branches each year.
Wellington.
Wright Stephenson's activities spread across New Zealand and into all farming areas. Rapidly becoming a major national business they merged with Wellington's W & G Turnbull and Co and W Gunson and Co in Auckland. It became clear a central location was necessary and in 1917 the Head office left Dunedin for Wellington. In 1920 the Abraham and Williams business covering Manawatu-Rangitikei and adjacent districts came under their expanding umbrella. The sale of new motor vehicles and their servicing was added as were the provision of all farm requirements including bulk groceries and home appliances. It seemed that everything might be supplied until staunch lifetime prohibitionist Hunt felt obliged to draw the line at the last commodity they might sell. Wright Stephenson stocked no alcohol of any kind.
After the end of World War I a new stud department for all pedigree livestock soon extended to importing and exporting. An annual sale of thoroughbred yearlings was established in 1927 which brought buyers from all over the world.
Activities away from Wright Stephenson.
Meat Board (1922) and Dairy Board (1923).
Hunt was the Stock and Station Agency industry representative on both the New Zealand Meat Producers Board and the New Zealand Wool Board. The business of each board was central to his core business marketing farm produce.
Directorships.
Directorships held by Hunt included:
Honours and awards.
In the 1932 King's Birthday Honours, Hunt was appointed a Knight Bachelor, for public services. In 1935, he was awarded the King George V Silver Jubilee Medal.
Private life.
Until he moved his family to Wellington in 1917 he lived in Invercargill where he ran stud Friesians and stud Romneys. On making the move he gave their Invercargill home to the Plunket Society, he was chairman of Plunket's specialist manufacturing operation. He was a keen deer stalker and fly fisherman.
Death.
Before the outbreak of war in 1939 he travelled from London to Wellington by air and contracted meningitis during the flight. A few months later, 18 September 1939, he died in Wellington aged 71. Hunt was survived by his second wife and a son from each marriage.
His obituary in Wellington's Evening Post described him as devoid of ostentation and readily approachable.


Katrine Conroy

Katrine Conroy (' Thor-Larsen; born 1957 or 1958) is an MLA for Kootenay West and Minister of Forests, Lands, Natural Resource Operations and Rural Development in the Canadian province of British Columbia.
She was elected to the Legislative Assembly in the 2005 election. She is a member of the British Columbia New Democratic Party. On November 19, 2010, Conroy resigned from her position as caucus whip for the NDP.
Personal life.
Conroy was born to Ben and Ingeborg Thor-Larsen, who were Danish immigrants to Canada. She was married to Ed Conroy, a former MLA for the district of Rossland-Trail, from March 1981 until his death on June 26, 2020 at the age of 73. She has 4 children.


List of lost settlements in the United Kingdom

This list of lost settlements in the United Kingdom includes deserted medieval villages (DMVs), shrunken villages, abandoned villages and other settlements known to have been lost, depopulated or significantly reduced in size over the centuries. There are estimated to be as many as 3,000 DMVs in England. Grid references are given, where known.
England.
Note that in many cases English settlements are listed under the relevant historical county, rather than the modern administrative unit.
Buckinghamshire.
From Beresford's Lost Villages except Old Wolverton.
Cambridgeshire.
"Includes former villages whose sites were in Huntingdonshire until the 1974 county boundary changes."
Norfolk.
There are believed to be around 200 lost settlements in Norfolk. Many of these are deserted medieval villages.
Oxfordshire.
"For former villages whose sites were in Berkshire until the 1974 county boundary changes please see the Berkshire section, above."


Elkanah Greer

Elkanah Brackin (or Bracken) Greer (October 11, 1825 – March 25, 1877) was an antebellum cotton planter, merchant, and then a general in the Confederate States Army who served in the Western Theater of the American Civil War.
Biography.
Greer was born in Paris, Tennessee. He moved to Mississippi as a young man and took part in the Mexican–American War as a member of the 1st Mississippi Rifles, whose colonel was future Confederate President Jefferson Davis. He participated in the battles of Monterrey and Buena Vista.
In 1848, Greer moved to Marshall, Texas, where he established himself as a planter and merchant, and for a time was a partner in a law firm. Three years later, he returned to Tennessee to marry a local girl named Anna Holcombe (whose famous sister Lucy Petway Holcombe married Francis Wilkinson Pickens, and became known during the Civil War as the "Queen of the Confederacy"). Elkanah and Anna had five children. He became the grand commander of the secretive [[Knights of the Golden Circle]] organization in 1859.
With the [[secession]] of [[Texas in the American Civil War|Texas]], Greer enlisted in the army and was commissioned as the first [[Colonel (United States)|colonel]] of the newly formed the South Kansas-Texas Cavalry (later known as the [[3rd Texas Cavalry]]) in July 1861. After training and equipping his men, he led the [[regiment]] into combat at the battles of [[Battle of Wilson's Creek|Wilson's Creek]] and [[Battle of Pea Ridge|Elkhorn Tavern]] in Arkansas. During the latter engagement, Greer was slightly wounded in the arm.
In October 1862, he was promoted to the rank of [[Brigadier General (CSA)|brigadier general]] and appointed as chief of the conscription bureau for the [[Trans-Mississippi]] region. Among his many responsibilities was trying to reconcile the laws of the central Confederate government with those of the State of Texas.
In 1864, faced with a growing manpower shortage, the Confederacy formed a Reserve Corps department, and Greer commanded it for a time.
After the war, he resumed his civilian career as a planter and merchant. He died during a visit with his sister in [[DeValls Bluff, Arkansas]], on March 25, 1877.
Greer is buried in [[Elmwood Cemetery (Memphis, Tennessee)|Elmwood Cemetery]] in [[Memphis, Tennessee]].
External links.
[[Category:1825 births]]
[[Category:1877 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Paris, Tennessee]]
[[Category:Confederate States Army brigadier generals]]
[[Category:People of Tennessee in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:People of Texas in the American Civil War]]
[[Category:American military personnel of the Mexican–American War]]
[[Category:Texas lawyers]]
[[Category:American planters]]
[[Category:19th-century American lawyers]]
[[Category:Knights of the Golden Circle]]


John Shirreff

John Shirreff (1759–1818) was a Scottish agricultural writer.
Life.
Shirreff was the son of an East Lothian farmer. After spending his youth in the West Indies as a merchant, he returned at his father's death, and succeeded to the lease of the farm at Captainhead, Haddington. In 1793 he was chosen, together with two other East Lothian farmers to survey the West Riding of Yorkshire for the county agricultural reports of the Board of Agriculture.
Shirreff attempted agricultural improvements, including a threshing-machine, worked by wind, and a bone-mill. He tried without success to introduce into Scotland the use of bone-dust as fertiliser. After subletting his farm, he resided at Craigside, Abbey Hill, and other places in and around Edinburgh, writing on agricultural topics.
During the last years of his life Shirreff resided in the country, taking charge of the estates of some noblemen. He died 2 November 1818, and was interred in the burial-ground at Prestonkirk, East Lothian.
Works.
The survey "General View of the Agriculture of the West Riding of Yorkshire" (1794) was written by Shirreff with Robert Brown and George Rennie, from the same area as Shirreff. It escaped criticism from William Marshall who compiled a "Review" of the series. Shirreff went on to compile surveys of Orkney and Shetland (1804).
In 1801 Shirreff received a premium from the Board of Agriculture for an essay on the "Best Mode of cropping Old Pasture Grounds". He contributed to the London Society of Arts an account of the osier plantations on his farm at Captainhead. He wrote pamphlets, and articles in the "Farmer's Magazine" and "Scots Monthly Magazine".
Notes.
Attribution


Abdul Rashid (agriculturist)

Abdul Rashid, (Ph.D. from University of Hawaii at Manoa, Hawaii, USA), (born 1950) is a Pakistani agricultural scientist, who has served as Member (Bio-sciences) of Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission (PAEC) from 2008 to 2011 and Director General of Pakistan's National Agricultural Research Center (NARC) from 2006 to 2008.
Early life and career.
Dr. Abdul Rashid had studied mechanisms of zinc deficiency in rice, wheat, and corn from 1973 to 1979. Those studies and establishments, led him to a position, a collaboration at the "Micronutrients Project" in Pakistan. Eventually, he obtained BSc (Honors) and MSc (Honors) from University of Agriculture Faisalabad, Pakistan and after winning an East-West Center scholarship, he received his PhD in agronomy and soil science from the University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu in 1986. There, he worked under guidance of professor Robert Fox on a micronutrient problem, which was of high importance to him and his country at the time. After the graduation, Abdul Rashid had returned to the National Agricultural Research Center in Islamabad and immediately began studying soil fertility and plant nutrition.
In 1970, Dr. Abdul Rashid had observed boron fertilization in calcareous soils, but the research and development did not receive enough attention, because at that time, the facilities were inadequate and the scientists lack expertise in analysis of boron. Because of it, Abdul Rashid had established plant boron analysis, a tactic of systematic nutrient indexing and diagnosing macro- and micronutrient deficiencies in farmer-grown crops which was studied at various greenhouses.
From mid-1980s to 2008, Dr Rashid led a well conceived R&D program in soil fertility and plant nutrition at National Agricultural Research Center, Islamabad. In particular his research team established that deficiency of boron micronutrient in rice crop reduces yield as well as impairs grain quality. Also, he established incidence of widespread deficiency of boron and zinc micronutrients in cotton crop. His extensive and consistent field and laboratory research resulted in development of highly cost-effective farmer friendly technologies of boron fertilizer use in rice, boron and zinc fertilizer use in cotton, use of zinc-enriched rice nursery, and 50% fertilizer saving phosphate band placement technology for wheat.
From 2006 to 2008 he was Director General of the National Agricultural Research Centre.
Since 2008, Dr Abdul Rashid is a member of the "HarvestZinc Project", a multi-national research initiative, under the leadership of Prof. Ismail Cakmak of Sabanci University in Turkey, which has established farmer-friendly technology of enriching staple cereal grains with zinc, iodine and selenium by agronomic biofortification approach. Despite his retirement from formal service in 2011, he is vigorously involved in agricultural R&D related activities.
He has published widely peer reviewed papers, book chapters, encyclopedia chapters, books, technical reports, and advisory materials. Also, his farmer-friendly fertilizer use technologies are formally recommended and widely adapted in Pakistan.
As a member of the Pakistan Atomic Energy Commission, he administered agricultural and biotechnological research and development at four establishments (i.e., NIA, Tandojam; NIAB, Faisalabad; NIFA, Peshawar; and NIBGE, Faisalabad), and managed 18 Nuclear Medicine and Oncology Cancer Hospitals located throughout Pakistan.
Dr. Rashid is on the Editorial Boards of "European Journal of Agronomy" (Elsevier) and "Communications in Soil Science & Plant Analysis" (Taylor & Francis).
Awards.
Abdul Rashid is affiliated with Pakistan Academy of Sciences, Soil Science Society of America, American Society of Agronomy, Indian Society of Soil Science, East–West Center, Association of Former PARC Scientists, and Soil Science Society of Pakistan, of which he is a Past-President.
Dr. Rashid is the 2013 IFA Norman Borlaug Award recipient for excellence in plant nutrition research (www.fertilizer.org/En/About_IFA/Awards/Norman_Borlaug_Award/2013_Abdul_Rashid.aspx); in 2017 he was chosen as an IPNI Science Award winner. The same year, he also became the recipient of J Benton Jones Award for his contributions in soil testing and plant analysis. Additionally, he is East-West Center Distinguished Alumnus; Fellow of Pakistan Academy of Sciences, Indian Society of Soil Science and Soil Science Society of Pakistan; PARC Silver Jubilee Laureate, Pakistan's Scientist of the Year, and National Book Foundation Awardee.
In 2005, Abdul Rashid had become Pakistan's Dr Norman Borlaug Award recipient.


Myrmel

Myrmel ("Myrmæl Bruk") is one of the largest and oldest farms the sub-parish of Sande in Sunnfjord, Vestland county, Norway.
Myrmel lies on a sunny hill with moraine soil, which is excellent to cultivate. On the other hand, it was full of big stones, thus it was sometimes difficult during the haying. The name Myrmel derives from "mjali" og "meli", which is a reference to porous soil. The farm was first recorded in 1350, but it was probably already inhabited much earlier.


John Cockburn (Scottish politician)

John Cockburn ( ) (died 12 November 1758) of Ormiston, East Lothian, was a Scottish landowner and politician who sat in the Parliament of Scotland from 1702 to 1707 and as a Whig in the British House of Commons for 34 years from 1707 to 1741.
Cockburn was the son of Adam Cockburn of Ormiston, Lord Justice Clerk, who he succeeded in 1735. He is known as the father of Scottish husbandry.
In 1702, Cockburn became a Shire Commissioner for Haddington in the Parliament of Scotland and took an active interest in accomplishing the union. He was the first representative of East Lothian in the parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain. He continued to hold that seat in all successive parliaments until 1741. He was one of the Lords Commissioners of the Admiralty.
Cockburn built Ormiston Hall on his estate at Ormiston. This last Cockburn of Ormiston was an enthusiastic entrepreneur and eventually ruined himself as a result of which his estates were sold to the Earl of Hopetoun.
Cockburn died in his son's house in the Navy Office, London, England. He had firstly married Beatrix, daughter of John Carmichael, 1st Earl of Hyndford, by whom he had no issue and secondly married Arabella, the daughter and coheiress of Anthony Rowe of Muswell Hall, Middlesex, with whom he had a son. His natural son, George Cockburne (d.1770), was a captain in the Royal Navy, and married Caroline, daughter of George Forrester, 5th Lord Forrester, with female issue.


Fred Sanderson

Frederick George Sanderson (12 October 1870 – 8 December 1954) was a Liberal party member of the House of Commons of Canada. He was born in St. Marys, Ontario and became an agent, farmer and manufacturer by career.
He attended St. Marys Collegiate Institute, then studied at the Ontario College of Pharmacy. His functions with the Liberal Party included a role as Ontario Liberal Whip in 1926, and in 1929 he became chief Ontario organizer for the federal party.
Sanderson was a municipal politician in St. Marys, Ontario, as a councillor from 1908 to 1910, then mayor in 1911 and 1912, and served on the Public Utility Commission from 1914 to 1916. He served as a captain of the Canadian army in World War I.
He was first elected to Parliament at the Perth South riding in the 1925 general election then re-elected in 1925, 1926 and 1930. In 1933, his riding became known as Perth and he was re-elected in 1935 and 1940. On 13 February 1936, he was appointed Deputy Speaker of the House of Commons. Sanderson finished his term in the 19th Canadian Parliament and did not seek a further term in the 1945 election.


Field days in Australia

Field days in Australia usually take place as part of an agricultural show, though field days focus on agricultural industry and equipment rather than livestock. A Landcare survey conducted in 1992/93 revealed Australian farmers place a high value on field days.
New South Wales.
The Australian National Field Days which began in 1952 is an annual agricultural exhibition held at Orange, New South Wales each year. Field days have been held at Henty since 1963, and are held in the third week of September each year. Over 60,000 people visit over the three-day period Tuesday to Thursday. There are over 600 exhibitors each year, and it is one of the largest in Australia and displays new agricultural equipment and technology for farmers. The event is now held at a permanent all-weather rural exhibition site with broad display avenues including a square kilometre (250 acres) of car parking and an on-site airstrip.
AgQuip, held in August at Gunnedah, attracts over 100,000 visitors. It is sponsored by the Commonwealth Bank, and started in 1973. Murrumbidgee Farm Fair is a Field Day which began in 1988 is held at the Yanco Agricultural Institute in Yanco which is held over two days in May of each year and attracting 15,000 visitors. A field day is held each year at Murrumbateman in October and has about 20,000 visitors. They began in 1979.
Queensland.
In Queensland, the largest field days in that state is held in Kingsthorpe near Toowoomba attracting over 60,000 visitors and the event is sponsored by CRT known as CRT FarmFest.
South Australia.
The Yorke Peninsula Field Days held every second year at Paskeville are the oldest field days in Australia (dating from 1895) and the largest in South Australia. Other field days are held at Barmera in the Riverland (annually since 1958), Cleve on the Eyre Peninsula and Lucindale in the south east of the state.
Tasmania.
The Field days in Tasmania are run by Rural Youth organisation of Tasmania. They are held over three days in May each year at the site in Carrick. They had previously been held at a smaller site in Simmons plains. Today Agfest is Tasmania's premier agricultural event, with over 64,000 people attending in 2008.
Victoria.
The field days at Elmore commenced in 1964. There is now a permanent site with pavilions, conference rooms and catering facilities which is hired out for events other than the field days which are held in early October. In 2004 there were 45,000 visitors. The Mallee Machinery Field Days are held at Speed and commenced in 1979. The Notman Pasture Seeds Farm Field Days are held at Poowong, Victoria & Walcha and commenced in 1987. The Farm Field Days have been presented some of the most experiences professionals in the fields of pasture, cropping, fertiliser, dairying and economics along with insights into Australia's agriculture industry. In 2014 over 400 local farmers attended the Poowong Farm Field Day with speakers including Andrew Allsop (Notman Pasture Seeds), John Mulvany, Steve Monegetti, David Barry, Matt Hall, Adam Fisher, John Gallienne, and Peter Notman.
Western Australia.
Field days commenced at Dowerin in September 1965; they claim to be the longest established field days in Western Australia. They are now known as the "Dowerin GWN Machinery Field Days", naming rights having been granted to regional television broadcaster Golden West Network (GWN) since 1992. The Dowerin Field Days are traditionally held during the last week of August each year over a three-day period, attracting over 40 000 people, with over 600 exhibitors. Since 2008 the Dowerin Field Days has reverted to the original 2 days.
The Margaret River Wine Industry Field Day (now known as the Landmark Wine Industry Field Day) was first held in 1997 with 80 exhibitors, showcasing the latest viticultural and oenological
technology. Since this time it has changed to a biennial event and grown to over 200 exhibitors. It is held over two days in May each year at Cowaramup.


George Cruickshank (Canadian politician)

George Alexander Cruickshank (13 February 1897 – 17 November 1970) was a Liberal party member of the House of Commons of Canada. He was born in Minot, North Dakota, United States and moved to Canada later in 1897. He became a farmer by career.
He was first elected to Parliament at the Fraser Valley riding in the 1940 general election then re-elected in 1945 and 1949. Cruickshank was defeated by Alexander Bell Patterson in the 1953 election.
Cruickshank served as reeve of Matsqui, British Columbia from 1931 to 1940. He died in Abbotsford, British Columbia in on 17 November 1970.


Hacienda Rosalia

Hacienda Rosalia, also known as Hacienda Santa Rosalia, is a compound where the ancestral home mansion of Gaston family and the Church of Cartwheels are located. It is situated in Manapla, Negros Occidental, Philippines. The mansion was built in 1930s.
History.
Hacienda Santa Rosalia is a sugar plantation owned by Jose Gaston, one of the sons of Victor Gaston, a sugar planter of Negros. He was married to Consuelo Azcona and had 8 children. The Gaston Mansion was built in the 1930s. It is set in lush, verdant and gorgeous garden of flowers, shrubs, trees, potted palms and herbs. Within the grounds are a fresh water swimming pool (used as hiding place during World War II), a Victorian fountain, a basketball court, a windmill, and a time-worn shoe house (which was used before as a playground). The Chapel of the Cartwheels is also situated a few meters away from the ancestral home. The Gaston family originated from the Frenchman Yves Leopold Germain Gaston. He is credited as the first to commercially produce cane sugar, the primary product of the province.
Media.
Hacienda Rosalia is also been used as a setting and location shoot for films most notable of which is the 1981 epic "Oro, Plata, Mata".
House of Gaston.
The house of Yves Leopold Germain Gaston's eldest son Victor in Silay City is now a museum open to the public and is officially called the "Balay Negrense" (Hiligaynon, "The Negrense House").


Conterno Fantino

Azienda Agricola Conterno Fantino is an Italian wine producer from the Piemonte region in the district of Langhe. The winery is located in Monforte d'Alba and was established as partnership between Guido Fantino and the brothers Diego and Claudio Conterno. Proponents of techniques that include short maceration and the use of small French "barriques", Conterno Fantino is considered a modernist producer of Barolo.
Production.
From a total vineyard area of , the grape variety distribution is divided into 9 ha planted with Nebbiolo, 6.5 ha with Barbera, 4.5 with Dolcetto, 1.5 each of Cabernet Sauvignon and Chardonnay.
The estate has an annual total production of 125,000-140,000 bottles.


Muckaty Station

Muckaty Station, also known as Warlmanpa, is a Aboriginal freehold landholding in Australia's Northern Territory, north of Tennant Creek, and approximately south of Darwin. Originally under traditional Indigenous Australian ownership, the area became a pastoral lease in the late 19th century and for many years operated as a cattle station. It is traversed by the Stuart Highway, built in the 1940s along the route of the service track for the Australian Overland Telegraph Line. It is also crossed by the Amadeus Gas Pipeline built in the mid-1980s, and the Adelaide–Darwin railway, completed in early 2004. Muckaty Station was returned to its Indigenous custodians in 1999.
The area comprises semi-arid stony ridges, claypans and a stony plateau, and experiences a sub-tropical climate, with a wet season between January and March. The vegetation is mostly scrubland, including spinifex grasslands. The fauna is generally typical of Australian desert environments, and includes the red kangaroo, the eastern wallaroo, the northern nail-tail wallaby, and the spinifex hopping mouse.
A site within Muckaty was being considered for Australia's low-level and intermediate-level radioactive waste storage and disposal facility. Indigenous custodians of Muckaty Station were divided over the proposal, which also met resistance from environmental organisations and the Northern Territory government. The plan was abandoned after a Federal Court of Australia case in 2014.
History.
Indigenous Australians have lived in parts of the Northern Territory for around 40,000 years. Pre-European settlement numbers are not known with any precision, although the Indigenous population of the Northern Territory has been estimated at "well over 10,000". The area now known as Muckaty Station (often referred to as just "Muckaty", though the origin of this name and near variants such as "Mucketty" is unknown) was – and is – the responsibility of seven clans of traditional Indigenous owners: Milwayi, Ngapa, Ngarrka, Wirntiku, Kurrakurraja, Walanypirri and Yapayapa. The country is known by the Indigenous name Warlmanpa, which is also the name of a local language.
Although there had been several unsuccessful attempts by British or colonial authorities to settle in the Northern Territory, there was no permanent European presence until surveyor George Goyder in 1869 established what is now known as Darwin. The timing was auspicious: in October 1870 the South Australian government decided to construct an overland telegraph line, from Port Augusta on the continent's south coast, to the new settlement just established in the country's tropical north. The line traversed what is now Muckaty Station, with repeater stations built at Powell's Creek to the north and Tennant's Creek to the south. At the same time as the telegraph line was completed in August 1872, a cattle industry was beginning to develop in central and northern Australia. The first pastoral lease in the Northern Territory was granted in 1872, and by 1911 there were at least 250 such leases covering over of the jurisdiction. The Muckaty pastoral lease was created in the late 19th century. Currently the property is surrounded by other leases including Powell Creek to the north, Helen Springs Station to the east with Philip Creek and Banka Banka Stations to the south.
In the 1930s, the Australian government was sufficiently concerned about the condition and lack of development of these leases that it held two inquiries between 1932 and 1938. Historian Ted Ling's accounts of those inquiries, however, make no mention of Muckaty, which was not singled out for comment by either investigation.
Throughout the history of Australia's pastoral industry, Indigenous Australians were a major part of the workforce. In 1928 for example, 80 per cent of Indigenous people with jobs were employed on the stations, including Muckaty, with many living on and travelling across the pastoral leases. The local language, Warlmanpa, was recognised in some publications from the 1930s onward, while anthropologists and administrators made some records of language and population in the region of Muckaty Station. Only one record from the period lists both Muckaty Station as a location and Warlmanpa as a language. A record of Aboriginal wards of the state, it showed only three Indigenous adults living on Muckaty, compared to almost fifty on Banka Banka Station, to the east. This reflects the fact that, by 1940, "Warlmanpa country had been depopulated".
By the 1940s the lessee at Muckaty was Fred Ulyatt. The 1940s also marked a significant change in the region's road infrastructure. A dirt track had been formed to service the telegraph line in the late nineteenth century. This became the Stuart Highway, crossing the eastern part of Muckaty, and it was upgraded to an all-weather road in late 1940, before being bitumenised in 1944. Sources do not say who leased the property between the 1940s and 1982, at which point the lease was held by James and Miriam Hagan. In 1988 it was transferred to Hapford Pty Limited and Kerfield Pty Limited. Between 1985 and 1987 the Amadeus Gas Pipeline was built across the station, carrying gas from Palm Valley Gas Field in the Amadeus Basin to Channel Island near Darwin.
In 1991, the cattle station was taken over by the Muckaty Aboriginal Corporation. The Corporation focused on rehabilitating the land, which had been degraded by excessive numbers of cattle, and by late 1993 Muckaty had been destocked of cattle for several seasons. On 20 December 1991, the Northern Land Council lodged a claim over Muckaty on behalf of traditional owners under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act 1976. The claim was made by members of the seven groups that each has responsibility for different sites and dreamings in the area. In 1997, the Aboriginal Land Commissioner recommended that Muckaty Station be handed back to the traditional owners, and in February 1999, title to the land was returned. At the time there were about 400 formal traditional owners, among 1,000 people with traditional attachments to the land; some lived on the station, but others were elsewhere in the region, including in the nearby towns of Tennant Creek and Elliott. As Aboriginal Freehold land it is inalienable communal title, and cannot be bought or sold. The pastoral lease holder and manager of the station since 1997 has been Ray Aylett. The Adelaide–Darwin railway, which passes through the western part of Muckaty Station, was completed in early 2004.
Geology and geography.
Muckaty Station covers an area of and lies north of Tennant Creek, in Australia's Northern Territory. It includes a homestead that lies west of the Stuart Highway and east of the railway. The residence has associated cattle yards, an airstrip, and workers' accommodation. It is adjacent to Banka Banka Station to the east, and Powell Creek Station (also referred to as an outstation) to the north.
The climate is subtropical, with a wet season between January and March, during which the area receives monthly rainfall of between . For the rest of the year there is usually less than of rain each month.
The station's geology is dominated by the Tomkinson Group, a formation comprising sedimentary rocks of the Paleoproterozoic era that is over 1.6 billion years old. The Tomkinson Group includes layers of coarse sandstones and conglomerates, with some claystone and siltstone, deposited in a fluvial to shallow marine environment. There are also Cambrian basaltic rocks, particularly near the homestead. The eastern parts of the station form a stony plateau within the Ashburton Range. The central parts are flat and include claypans, while to the west are stony ridges. The region is drained by an ephemeral waterway, Tomkinson Creek, and is considered a good candidate to contain manganese deposits, the mineral having been extracted in the 1950s and 1960s at the Mucketty mine just east of Muckaty Station.
The region is semi-arid, and the vegetation is generally scrubland. Muckaty Station lies at the boundary of two bioregions, Tanami and Sturt Plateau. The Tanami bioregion is made up primarily of sandplains vegetated with bootlace oak ("Hakea lorea"), desert bloodwoods ("Corymbia" species), acacias and grevilleas, together with spinifex grasslands. The Sturt Plateau bioregion also includes spinifex grasslands, but with a canopy of bloodwood trees.
Most of the region's fauna is typical of desert environments. Species include the red kangaroo, the eastern wallaroo (also known as the euro), the northern nail-tail wallaby, and the spinifex hopping mouse. The central pebble-mound mouse also occurs in the region, and other mammal species including the Forrest's mouse, desert mouse and short-beaked echidna have been predicted by biologists to occur on the station. The station may lie within the range of the critically endangered night parrot ("Pezoporus occidentalis"). There is relatively high diversity and abundance of reptiles, including the military dragon ("Ctenophorus isolepis gularis") and the sand goanna ("Varanus gouldii flavirufus").
Radioactive waste facility.
The search for a site at which to dispose of or store Australia's low and intermediate-level radioactive wastes commenced in 1980. A formal public process of site selection that had commenced in 1991 finally failed in 2004. On 7 December 2005, the Australian government passed legislation, the Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management Act, to facilitate the siting of a radioactive waste facility in the Northern Territory. Section four of the Act allowed the Australian government to schedule potential sites for a waste facility, and three Northern Territory sites were proposed under the legislation. Following criticisms made by the Northern Land Council, in December 2006 the legislation was revised to also allow Aboriginal Land Councils to nominate potential sites for a facility. In May 2007 the Northern Land Council, on behalf of Ngapa clan traditional owners, nominated a small area within Muckaty Station (for which the Ngapa had traditional responsibility) to be considered as a possible site for the facility. In September 2007, the government accepted the nomination, bringing the total number of possible sites to four. The Government of the Northern Territory opposed the nomination, but could not prevent it. Ngapa clan members volunteered a area to be considered for the facility, which was expected to require 1 square kilometre of land.
A parliamentary inquiry and media reports indicated that the Indigenous traditional owners of Muckaty Station were divided over whether it should host a radioactive waste facility. Some members of the Ngapa clan supported hosting the facility, while other traditional owners of Muckaty opposed it. There were also claims that some members of the Ngapa clan were among those who had signed a petition opposing the facility. Political scientist Rebecca Stringer criticised the federal government's approach to the siting of the waste facility, arguing that it undermined the Indigenous owners' sovereignty and control of their own lands. Environmental organisations and the Australian Greens are opposed to using the site for a dump.
In 2009, the Australian government received a consultant's report that examined Muckaty Station as one of four possible sites for a nuclear waste facility in the Northern Territory. The report was released in 2010. In February 2012, the Muckaty Station site was the only one under consideration by the government.
Legal action.
In 2010, Mark Lane Jangala and other traditional owners instructed law firms Maurice Blackburn, Surry Partners (a firm that includes human rights lawyer George Newhouse), and lawyer Julian Burnside to commence legal proceedings against the Northern Land Council and the Australian government in the Federal Court of Australia to stop the nomination of Muckaty Station as a nuclear waste storage facility. The Federal Court challenge was due to commence early in 2013 before Justice Tony North, who handled the Tampa affair. According to a June 2012 report in "The Age", some indigenous owners would "testify they were never consulted, while others [will] say that they were not properly consulted and never consented to the nomination". The court did not begin hearing the case until 2 June 2014, for what was expected to be a five-week trial. However, on 18 June, the Northern Land Council withdrew the nomination of Muckaty as part of a legal settlement between the parties. The Australian government indicated there would be a three-month period during which the Northern Land Council and traditional owners could determine whether they wished to nominate an alternative site for the dump elsewhere on Muckaty Station.
References.
Notes
Bibliography


Marsala wine

Marsala is a fortified wine, dry or sweet, produced in the region surrounding the Italian city of Marsala in Sicily. Marsala first received "Denominazione di Origine Controllata" (DOC) status in 1969.
The European Union grants Protected Designation of Origin (PDO) status to Marsala, and most other countries limit the use of the term "Marsala" to products from the Marsala area.
While unfortified wine is also produced in the Marsala region, it does not qualify for the Marsala DOC.
History.
Marsala fortified wine was probably first popularized outside Sicily by the English trader John Woodhouse. In 1773, he landed at the port of Marsala and discovered the local wine produced in the region, which was aged in wooden casks and tasted similar to Spanish and Portuguese fortified wines then popular in England. Fortified Marsala was, and is, made using a process called "in perpetuum", which is similar to the "solera" system used to produce Sherry in Jerez, Spain.
Woodhouse recognized that the "in perpetuum" process raised the alcohol level and alcoholic taste of this wine while also preserving these characteristics during long-distance sea travel. Woodhouse further believed that fortified Marsala would be popular in England. Marsala indeed proved so successful that Woodhouse returned to Sicily and, in 1796, began its mass production and commercialization. In 1806, it was Benjamin Ingham (1784–1861), arriving in Sicily from Leeds, who opened new markets for Marsala in Europe and the Americas. Founded by Benjamin Ingham and later run by Joseph Whitaker and William Ingham Whitaker. Joseph and his brother William Ingham Whitaker inherited vast vineyards and his great grandfather Ingham's banking empire.
In 1833, the entrepreneur Vincenzo Florio, a Calabrese by birth and Palermitano by adoption, bought up great swathes of land between the two largest established Marsala producers and set to making his own vintage with even more exclusive range of grape.
Florio purchased Woodhouse's firm, among others, in the late nineteenth century and consolidated the Marsala wine industry. Florio and Pellegrino remain the leading producers of Marsala today.
Characteristics and types.
Marsala is produced using the Grillo, Inzolia, Catarratto and Damaschino white grape varietals, among others.
Marsala contains about 15–20% alcohol by volume. Different Marsala wines are classified according to their color, sweetness, and the duration of their aging. The three levels of sweetness are "secco" (with a maximum 40 grams of residual sugar per liter), "semisecco" (41–100 g/l) and "sweet" (over 100 g/l). The color and aging classifications are as follows:
Marsala wine was traditionally served as an aperitif between the first and second courses of a meal. Contemporary diners will serve its drier versions chilled with Parmesan (stravecchio), Gorgonzola, Roquefort, and other spicy cheeses, with fruits or pastries, and the sweeter at room temperature as a dessert wine. Marsala is sometimes discussed with another Sicilian wine, "Passito di Pantelleria" (Pantelleria Island's raisin wine).
In cooking.
Marsala wine is frequently used in cooking, and is especially prevalent in dishes served in Italian restaurants in the United States.
Dry Marsala wine is used in savory cooking. A typical savory Marsala sauce, for example, involves reducing the wine almost to a syrup with onions or shallots, then adding mushrooms and herbs. One of the most popular Marsala recipes is chicken marsala, in which flour-coated pounded chicken breast halves are braised in a mixture of Marsala, butter, olive oil, mushrooms, and spices. Marsala is also used in some risotto recipes.
Sweet Marsala wine is used to produce rich Italian desserts such as "zabaglione", tiramisu and shortcake.


Denys Bullard

Denys Gradwell Bullard (15 August 1912 – 2 November 1994) was a British farmer and politician. Although he was an entertaining speaker, his political career was a precarious one as he was only elected in marginal constituencies.
Farming background.
Born on a farm at Elm, near Wisbech, Bullard went to Wisbech Grammar School and then got into Fitzwilliam House, Cambridge where he read Natural Sciences and won a first class honours degree. He then went to the Cambridge School of Agriculture where he wrote a postgraduate dissertation on agriculture. Using his academic knowledge, he returned to work on the family farm. At it was relatively small for the area.
Politics.
During the Second World War, his farming duties meant he was not called up. He served as technical adviser to the Huntingdonshire War Agricultural Committee
At the 1950 general election, Bullard was selected as Conservative Party candidate for South West Norfolk, which contained much of the Norfolk farming area. He was pictured on his election address wearing his farming gear among the pigs and potatoes of his farm. Despite a vigorous campaign he lost by 260 votes.
First term in Parliament.
When a second general election followed within two years, Bullard fought the seat again and won by 442 votes. In his first year in Parliament, Bullard piloted a Private Members' Bill regulating fireguards. Concentrating on farming issues, he campaigned for agricultural protection and restriction of non-Commonwealth imports, as well as for more drainage schemes and better rural transport. He became friendly with Henry Brooke, who was a rapidly rising junior Minister. In 1955 Brooke, by then Financial Secretary to the Treasury, appointed him as Parliamentary Private Secretary.
Defeat.
However, Bullard lost his seat by 193 votes in the 1955 general election, and returned to his farm. He also became a broadcaster, at which his entertaining way of speaking made him a success. Although intending at first not to return to politics, he was persuaded to make another run at becoming a Member of Parliament, this time in King's Lynn constituency.
Second term in Parliament.
At the 1959 general election, Bullard won the seat with a majority of over a thousand. Henry Brooke again called on him to be Parliamentary Private Secretary, which he remained until Brooke left office. In 1962 he introduced another Private members Bill which amended the law on drainage rates. His concern with the profitability of the farming industry led him to oppose the application to join the European Economic Community.
Subsequent career.
Bullard was again defeated at the 1964 general election, but only by 104 votes. He failed to regain the seat in the 1966 election. He was made a member of the Anglian Water Authority and Chairman of the Broads Committee in 1974. This gave him responsibility for preserving the Norfolk Broads, a delicate environment. Bullard held the post for nine years before retiring.
In retirement, Bullard enjoyed gardening and painting. He married Diana Patricia Cox in 1970. A son, Patrick, was born to the couple in 1973, and a daughter, Elizabeth, in 1975.


De Akkermolen

De Akkermolen (; ) is a 17th-century windmill in Zundert, Netherlands. Built around 1605 to replace an earlier windmill, it was used as a gristmill until it was severely damaged in 1950. The mill was bought by the local government and restored in 1961, and it was listed as a national heritage site in 1974.
History.
An earlier windmill had existed on the same location and was mentioned in 1557 as "the mill in the Sundertsch Field" ("de molen in de Sundertsche Akker"), and this earlier windmill was in its turn a replacement of a nearby watermill, "De Poelmolen", which was mentioned in 1438. The earlier windmill was destroyed in 1584 by Spanish troops and the building of a new mill took several years. The new windmill was first mentioned in 1605.
The mill was owned by the margrave of Bergen op Zoom and was a "banmolen" (), meaning peasants in the locality were obligated to use this mill to grind their wheat. In 1794 it became property of William V, Prince of Orange and baron of Breda. "Banmolens" were taken out of common law during the French revolution, meaning that people could choose where they wanted to grind their wheat, and in 1830 the mill became private property. The mill was in constant use as a gristmill until the wooden windshaft broke in 1950, which caused the sails to crash into the ground, making the future of the mill uncertain. The mill was bought in 1959 by the municipal government of Zundert and restored in 1961. It ceased to be an active gristmill, but was in functioning order. The mill needed another restoration in 1991 when it was taken apart and rebuilt.
Description.
De Akkermolen was built as an open trestle post mill, meaning that the whole body of the mill that houses the machinery is mounted on an uncovered single vertical post or trestle, around which it can be rotated to bring the sails into the wind. The mill is made out of painted wood, the body is partially covered in tar and it has a roof of bituminous waterproofing. The mill has four common sails of span, that drive a wheel of 71 cogs, driving the lantern pinion stone nut, which has 15 staves. The stone nut drives a pair of Cullen millstones from Mayen ("Cullen" for "Cologne", where such millstones were marketed from), 17 hands in diameter or .
Inside the mill inscriptions can be found by the miller and his assistants from 1804.
The mill was listed as a national heritage site (nr 41113) on 11 July 1974. It is open to the public on the first Saturday of the month or by appointment.
External links.


Robert Cottrell

Robert Cottrell (15 September 1815 – 3 November 1880) was a coachbuilder and politician in the colony of South Australia. His first sojourn in Australia was in Maitland, New South Wales and his last near Maitland, South Australia.
History.
Cottrell emigrated to New South Wales, arriving in Sydney on the ship "Orient" in February 1839. He ran a coachbuilding business in Maitland, New South Wales from 1843 to 1845. Cottrell married Abina Ledsam; their two elder sons were born in Maitland, where various members of the Ledsam family had settled from the early 1830s including poundkeeper John Ledsam and auctioneer Jeremiah Ledsam, with whom he was closely associated.
Cottrell, his wife and four children moved to Adelaide by the brig "Phantom", accompanied by brother-in-law John Ledsam (1785–1856), in June 1847. In 1848 he opened a coachbuilding business in Rundle Street, which prospered, enabling him to move several times, finally to Grenfell Street.
He was member for East Adelaide in the South Australian House of Assembly April 1868 – February 1875, and was an advocate of protection. In 1875, he stood again for East Adelaide, but was defeated by William Kay.
He purchased a farm "Brook Cottage", Woodforde, near
Magill around 1865, where they lived, and later moved to a much larger property at Urania, some from Maitland, South Australia.
He had been an invalid for some time, and died of bronchitis.
G. T. Cottrell.
His eldest son George Thomas Cottrell joined the second ("relief") party of B. T. Finniss's surveying expedition to Adam Bay in the Northern Territory as a labourer, leaving Port Adelaide on 29 October 1864.
He brought with him six rabbits, a gift of land agent Samuel Pearce, later his father-in-law, but there is no record of their being released, and they certainly failed to "be fruitful and multiply".
Although his contract would not expire until October 1865, he was one of those who on 6 May 1865 left Escape Cliffs on the ship "Bengal" for Surabaya, and with J. R. (T. R. ?) Atkinson travelled on to Singapore, while the rest transshipped via "Douglas" to Melbourne, and thence to Adelaide.
While in Singapore he found a shipmaster's wallet, and was able to return it to its owner, who treated him to a passage to Hong Kong. There he was introduced to the Governor, Sir Richard Graves MacDonnell, who found an appointment for him with the Customs Department in Canton. Two years later he returned to Adelaide, married, and had a successful career as an accountant.
Family.
Robert Cottrell married Abina Ledsam (c.1813 – 30 May 1890) around 1838. Among their children were:
Both G. T. Cottrell and T. L. Cottrell were born in Maitland, New South Wales.


Denis Wigan

Denis Grey Wigan (21 June 1893 – 31 December 1958) was an English first-class cricketer and British Army officer.
The son of Sir Frederick William Wigan, he was born at Walton-on-Thames in June 1893. He was educated at Eton College, where he took part in the Fowler's match of 1910 and captained the college cricket team in 1912. From Eton, Wigan went up to Magdalen College, Oxford. While studying at Oxford, he played first-class cricket for Oxford University in 1913 and 1914, making six appearances. He scored 119 runs in his six matches, at an average of 14.87 and a high score of 73 not out. Due to the commencement of the First World War in July 1914, his time at Oxford was prematurely cut short, denying him his blue.
Wigan served in the war, being commissioned as a second lieutenant in the King's Royal Rifle Corps in September 1914. He was promoted to lieutenant in December 1914. He was later made a temporary captain, but relinquished the rank in June 1915, having been repatriated to England suffering from neurasthenia, for which he was not successfully treated. During his absence from the front he was promoted to the full rank of captain in August 1916. His ill health led to him being invalided out of the army, with Wigan retiring from active service in June 1917. Following the war, he settled in Suffolk where he took up farming. Despite being invalided, he commanded his local Home Guard unit during the Second World War, though these duties too took a further strain on his health. Later in life he served as a justice of the peace for Suffolk. Wigan died in December 1958 at Pettistree, Suffolk. He was survived by his wife, Mabel, whom he had married in October 1915. The couple had four children, with two dying in infancy. His nephew, Charles Lyttelton, and brother-in-law, Geoffrey Colman, both played first-class cricket.


Oxmoor Farm

Oxmoor Farm is an estate in Louisville, Kentucky located east of downtown. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1976. It has also been termed Oxmoor or the Bullitt Estate.
Oxmoor was surveyed in 1774 and was the home of Sturgis Station fort by 1780, when it was granted to Col. William Christian. Alexander Scott Bullitt married Christian's daughter in 1786 and Christian gave the farm to them as a wedding present. Christian was killed by Native Americans later that year.
Alexander Bullitt purchased an adjoining in 1787 to expand the farm and named it Oxmoor after the fictional farm in Tristram Shandy, with a new house being completed in 1791, a year before Kentucky separated from Virginia to become a separate state. Alexander Bullitt became Kentucky's first Lieutenant Governor in 1800 and Bullitt County, Kentucky is named in his honor. Alexander Bullitt died in 1816 and willed the farm to his youngest son William. William Bullitt expanded the farmhouse in the late 1820s, but closed the house in 1863 and rented out the farmlands due to the passage of the Emancipation Proclamation. William Bullitt died in 1877 and his wife died in 1879. Then the farm was divided between their children.
From 1906 to 1909 a great-grandson of Alexander Bullitt, William Marshall Bullitt, purchased the lands from the different family owners and reopened the main house. When William Marshall Bullitt died in 1957, the farm was passed to his son Thomas Walker Bullitt under a trustee arrangement that prohibited him from selling it. In the 1960s, the farm was split under the process of eminent domain to build Interstate 64. Due to the trustee arrangement of the land, the Bullitt family formed Beargrass Corporation to manage the leasing of the land for Oxmoor Center, Oxmoor Country Club, and other commercial uses.


Mount King Station


Odisha Gramya Bank

Odisha Gramya Bank (OGB) () is a Regional Rural Bank established on 7 January 2013 with the amalgamation of "Neelachala Gramya Bank", "Kalinga Gramya Bank" and "Baitarani Gramya Bank" in terms of provisions of Regional Rural Banks Act 1976. The bank is sponsored by Indian Overseas Bank & is jointly owned by the Government of India, Government of Odisha and IOB.
The shareholders of the Bank are Govt. of India (50%), Indian Overseas Bank (35%) and Govt. of Odisha (15%). The Bank is operating in 13 districts of Odisha State with its Head Office at Bhubaneswar. The bank has nine regional offices located at Balasore, Baripada, Cuttack, Chandikhol, Dhenkanal, Jashipur, Khurda, Keonjhar and Pipli.
History.
The bank was established on 07.01.2013 with the branches of the erstwhile Neelachal, Kalinga and Baitarani RRBs. However, presently it has grown to a network of 547 branches, of which 446 are in remote rural areas.
Presently, the Bank operates in 13 districts of Coastal, Central and Northern Odisha viz. Puri, Khurda, Cuttack, Jajpur, Jagatsingpur, Nayagarh, Bhadrak, Baleswar, Kendrapada, Keonjhar, Mayurbhanj, Dhenkanal and Angul, covering 37% of the geographical area and 52% of the total population of Odisha State.
Performance.
The bank made a profit of Rs 14.42 Crore in the year 2013–14. The bank had a CD ratio of 59.5% at the time of amalgamation.
In 2015, Odisha Gramya Bank came third in the ranking of all banks in Odisha on Financial Inclusion parameters, with a score of 67 out of 100, becoming eligible to handle Government business including State PSU deposits.
National prominence.
Immediately after its inception, Odisha Gramya Bank came into national prominence with its fast-track solving of the high-profile gold loan fraud case involving Ratikant Kanungo. The situation improved after the formation of Odisha Gramya Bank.


Dan Whelchel

Dan Whelchel (August 26, 1894 – March 1, 1988) was a college football player and fruit horticulturalist.
Early years.
Dan Whelchel was born in Dawson County, Georgia on August 26, 1894 to Jordan Davis Whelchel and Amanda Jane Palmour. At the time of his enrollment at Tech he was living in Ashburn, Georgia. Dan was a first cousin of All-Southern Georgia Bulldogs football player Hugh Whelchel.
Georgia Tech.
Whelchel was a prominent guard for John Heisman's Georgia Tech Golden Tornado of the Georgia Institute of Technology.
1917.
He was a member of the school's first national championship team in 1917, having to join the American effort in the First World War before he got to celebrate.
Horticulturalist.
Whelchel later was a fruit horticulturalist in Arkansas, specializing in nuts.


Danish Landrace pig

The Danish Landrace (Danish language: ', ') is a medium to large breed of pig, white in colour with long bodies, fine hair, long snouts, and heavy drooping ears. They are bred for pork production. There are two distinct varieties, the white (') and the piebald (')
Characteristics.
The Danish Landrace is a medium-to-large, long, lean, pig. It is white, and is scantily clad with short hairs. The snout is long, and the large ears droop forwards. It has deep flanks and lacks the wrinkles and excess fat found in some other breeds.
History.
The first registered Landrace herd was established in 1896 in Denmark, with the first progeny and sibling tests taking place in 1907. Since then, production and quality testing have become a regular part of the Danish swine improvement program. Primarily because of this breed, Denmark became the world's chief bacon-exporting country and for many years refused to export purebred Landrace breeding stock to protect this position. Registrations are governed by Denmark's "Landsudvalget for Svineavl og Produktion" (National Committee for Breeding and Production). Research and improvement of the breed is still continuing. In a seven-year period in the 1970s and 1980s, there was improvement in daily weight gain, feed conversion, the percentage of meat to bone in the carcase and the quality score.
Danish Landrace have been exported to the United States , Canada, Brazil, Chile, Mexico, Japan, Taiwan, People's Republic of China, Philippines, Malaysia, Sweden, Thailand, the former U.S.S.R., Albania, Hungary, Greece, Germany, and several African countries.
In Denmark, Danish Landrace pigs can be experienced at The Funen Village open-air museum.


Bernard McMahon

Bernard McMahon or M'Mahon (Ireland ca 1775 — Philadelphia, 18 September 1816) was an Irish-American horticulturist settled in Philadelphia, who served as one of the stewards of the plant collections from the Lewis and Clark expedition and was the author of "The American Gardener's Calendar: Adapted to the Climates and Seasons of the United States" (1806 and following years). He circulated the first extensive gardener's seed list in the United States, which he attached as an appendix to his "Calendar".
McMahon's most enduring contribution was his "Calendar", the most comprehensive gardening book published in the United States in the first half of the nineteenth century. It finished in its eleventh edition in 1857. It was modeled on a traditional English formula, of month-by-month instructions on planting, pruning, and soil preparation for the "Kitchen Garden, Fruit Garden, Orchard, Vineyard, Nursery, Pleasure Ground, Flower Garden, Green House, Hot house and Forcing Frames". In some particulars, McMahon followed his English models so closely that J. C. Loudon suggested in 1826 that the derivative character of the "Calendar" was such that "We cannot gather from the work any thing as to the extent of American practice in these particulars." Ann Leighton notes the absence of Indian corn among the "Seeds of Esculent Vegetables" in 1806, though he lists old-fashioned favorites like coriander, corn-salad, orach, rampion, rocambole and skirret.
McMahon emigrated in 1796. By 1800 he was in Philadelphia, working for William Duane and the newspaper the Aurora. He entered the nursery and seed business by 1802-1803, when he issued his broadsheet "Catalogue of Garden Grass, Herb, Flower, Tree & Shrub-Seeds, Flower Roots, &c" which comprised 720 species and varieties of seed. This was the first published seed list in the United States. In 1804 he published another catalogue, of thirty pages, mostly devoted to native American seeds.
Through the "Calendar" McMahon was Thomas Jefferson's gardening mentor; a steady stream of correspondence passed between them. Jefferson selected him in 1806 as one of two nurserymen to receive and grow the seeds and roots collected by Lewis and Clark. In 1807, when it came time to find a draftsman to illustrate the published journals of Lewis and Clark, it was M'Mahon who recommended the German-born botanist Frederick Pursh, who found himself with the botanical materials when the natural history publication did not materialize, and took them with him to London, where he published 130 plants from the Lewis and Clark expedition in "Flora Americae Septentrionalis", 1813.
Jefferson received from McMahon seeds for Monticello.
In 1808 McMahon purchased twenty acres on the Germantown Road, in Penn Township, Philadelphia for a nursery and botanic garden that would enable him to expand his business. He named it “Upsal Botanic Garden” in commemoration of Linnaeus' connection with Uppsala University. It was located at the north edge of the then urban part of the city. Part of the M’Mahon garden is currently occupied by Fotterall Square, a small park in Philadelphia.
In 1818 botanist Thomas Nuttall complimented McMahon's role in bestowing the genus name "Mahonia" on a group of West Coast broadleaf-evergreen shrubs still popular in American gardens. McMahon, growing the seedlings that were protected from commerce as Federal property, had the mortification to see published in British journals, and to see "Mahonia nervosa" itself introduced by Prince Nurseries, Flushing, Long Island, at twenty dollars a plant.
At his death the nursery business was left to his wife, Ann McMahon (d. 1818), and their son, Thomas P. M'Mahon, who continued to revise and republish "The American Gardener's Calendar".


Ziarat Juniper Forest

The Ziarat Juniper Forest is a juniper forest in Ziarat, Balochistan, Pakistan.
Geography.
These forests are spread around mountainous area of Ziarat and Mount Zarghoon. The mountains range from 1,181 to 3,488 meters elevation. The forests cover an area of about 110,000 hectares, and it is the largest juniper forest in Pakistan.
The climate is temperate and semi-arid, with mild summers and cold winters. Average annual rainfall (measured in Ziarat) is 269 mm, with a maximum of 74 mm in July and a minimum of 3 mm in January. July is the hottest month (27.4 °C), and January the coldest (7.9 °C). Relative humidity ranges from 35% in January to 60% in September. Snow falls between November and April, with a maximum (68 cm) in February.
Ecology.
The characteristic tree is the Pashtun juniper ("Juniperus seravschanica"). Juniper forest occurs between 2000 and 3,000 meters elevation along ridge tops and on moderate to steep slopes (18º to 30º). They grow mostly in dense, open, and pure stands without stratification. The age of the oldest trees is 5000 to 7000 years, for which they are called living fossils. 54 different species of plants are found in the forests, including Afghan ash ("Fraxinus xanthoxyloides"), wild pistachio ("Pistacia atlantica" and "P. khinjuk"), wild almond ("Prunus eburnea"), makhi ("Caragana ambigua"), surai ("Rosa beggeriana"), and zralg ("Berberis baluchistanica, B. calliobotrys, B. densiflora", and "B. lycium"). About half of native plant species are used medicinally by local people. Essential oils from the juniper have antioxidant qualities and have been used medicinally since antiquity. These forests also prevent water reserves from evaporating, which are major source of livelihood for local people.
Native mammals include the Suleiman markhor ("Capra falconeri jerdoni"), urial ("Ovis vignei"), Asian black bear ("Ursus thibetanus"), wolf ("Canis lupus"), golden jackal ("Canis aureus"), and Afghan pika ("Ochotona rufescens"). Birds include the chukar ("Alectoris chukar"), mistle thrush ("Turdus viscivorus"), Black-throated thrush ("Turdus atrogularis"), streaked laughingthrush ("Trochalopteron lineatum"), rufous-naped tit ("Periparus rufonuchalis"), and bar-tailed treecreeper ("Certhia himalayana").
Conservation and threats.
The juniper forests grow in a semi-arid climate, and are slow-growing and long-lived. For centuries local people have harvested firewood, timber, and various medicinal and aromatic plants from the forests. Since the mid-20th century the forest cover and forest area have declined, and the forests have shown little regeneration. Factors in their decline include increasing human population, overgrazing by livestock, illegal timber cutting, overharvesting of firewood and juniper seeds, periodic droughts, attack on weakened trees by parasitic fungi and the mistletoe "Arceuthobium oxycedri", and climate change. These activities were once mostly limited to lower elevations, but in recent decades have spread to higher elevations. Human activity has also altered the species composition of the forests, and once-common companion broadleaf trees like "Fraxinus xanthoxyloides" and "Pistacia khinjuk" are now rare, found only in small numbers along watercourses.
On October 29, 2008 a 6.4 magnitude earthquake hit Ziarat and surrounding areas. After the earthquake disruptions the local villagers are now using Juniper trees as fire wood.
On 25 October 2010 The Government of Balochistan Sports, Environment and Youth Affairs Departments announced the Silver Jubilee “Juniper Defender Award” to Hayatullah Khan Durrani, for his long outstanding efforts as juniper defender since 1984. Hayat Durrani is an environmental analyst for the preservation of the 3000-year-old World Heritage of juniper forests and wildlife in the Ziarat and Zarghoon Ghar regions of Balochistan Pakistan.
Protected area.
In 1971, a 372.47 km2 portion of the forest was designated a wildlife sanctuary.
In 2013 the forest was declared a biosphere reserve, with a core area of 11,243 hectares, a 60,519 hectare buffer zone, a 40,090 hectare transition area, and a total area of 111,852 hectares. In 2016 the Government of Pakistan nominated the Ziarat Juniper Forest as a World Heritage Site.


The Stoker Company

The Stoker Company is a producer and applier of pesticides and a crop dusting loading facility, located in Imperial County, California, approximately 25 miles from the Mexican border. It is currently listed as a Superfund site because pesticides developed and used there are considered a human health hazard due to long-term exposure that may cause adverse health effects. Beginning in 1966, operations have caused on-site and off-site pesticide contamination to surface soil, water, and air.
History.
Stoker Company has supplied and applied pesticides since May 26, 1966. The Stoker Company sells, stores and applies pesticides using aircraft and ground equipment over a 26-acre site. Runoff from the cleaning of aircraft goes to underground concrete sumps located under each wash rack. Approximately once a week, the pesticide waters are pumped from the sumps into a mobile spray rig and sprayed onto a 15–20-acre plot on the Stoker site consisting of a dirt road leading to the airstrip. During the 1960s and 1970s, Stoker released approximately 300 gallons of waste water per day, but the California Regional Water Quality Control Board recently estimated that this was reduced to 100 gallons. The wash water has been determined to be non-hazardous.
On May 9, 1988, a pond located at a nearby residence near the site suffered a fish and bird kill. Numerous dead fish (shad and catfish) and ten dead birds (Snowy Egrets) were found around the perimeter of the pond. Upon necropsy, the California Department of Fish and Game (CDFG) determined the fish tissue was contaminated by high levels of several different pesticides. The CDFG analyzed the pond and concluded that high winds blew pesticides from the Stoker airplane cleaning activities into the pond. After the discovery of dead birds and fish, the pond was closed to public activities due to the belief of contamination. Later in 1988, an on-site warehouse that contained pesticide supplies caught fire and burned to the ground. The fire started in the east end of the warehouse where sulfur and diatomaceous clays were stored. To avoid health risks, businesses and residences within a 2-mile radius were evacuated. During the fire, approximately 300 tons of soil were contaminated and later disposed of in a landfill regulated under the Resource Conservation and Recovery Act (RCRA).
Throughout 1988 to 1989, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) investigations found numerous pesticides in on-site soil, the nearby canal and pond, and air measurements. Later in 1989, Stoker submitted a closure plan for the land treatment unit. Stoker later reconsidered these actions and still continues to spray wash waters on-site. In July 1991, EPA placed the Stoker Company site on the National Priorities List of hazardous waste sites after testing showed that the disposal of pesticides on-site was contaminating on-site surface soil, which was then being relocated to off-site air, soil, and surface water. In 1993, the EPA reevaluated the site and determined that they did not need to perform further actions during that time.
Contaminants.
Agricultural pesticide use near populated areas is increasing worldwide due to population growth into formerly rural farmland. The Stoker Company is located on 26 acres of barren land with no vegetation. Some of the contaminated soil has blown off-site and affected nearby surface soil and surface water.
Twenty different pesticides were detected in on-site soil surface samples including diazinon, endosulfan and heptachlor epoxide, which were found at highest levels in the burn area, and disulfoton, endosulfan, merphos, and methamidophos which were found in high concentrations near the former warehouse and office. The concentrations of listed pesticides were all significantly above comparison values and therefore of concern for human and environmental health. On-site groundwater was reported to contain low levels of butyric acid, dinoseb, and endosulfan due to leaching. Only endosulfan concentrations were significantly above comparison values. On-site air analyses also found eight different pesticides at levels significantly above background levels. The eight pesticides were dacthal, diainon, endosulfan, malathion, mevinphos, maled, methyl parathion, and phorate. However, these concentrations were not enough in comparison to raise concern. Lastly, dead fish samples found in the pond contained dacthal (27.3 mg/kg), DDE (0.11 mg/kg), diazinon (0.1 mg/kg), and endosulfan (0.92 mg/kg).
Health Impacts.
There is increasing public concern regarding the health risks associated with residential exposure to agricultural pesticides, but limited understanding about the potential for such exposures. Pesticides are toxic chemicals and can therefore pose a threat to humans from inadvertent exposure. After the evaluation by the EPA, the momentum that brought the Stoker site to the federal government soon decreased once there was a lack of evidence that directly connected the company to major widespread environmental and health impacts.
The impacted populations include on-site workers, the family formerly living on the neighboring D&K property, the D&K Duck Hunting members, individuals using untreated water, and individuals living near the crop dusting operations. Approximately 130 people live within 1 mile of the site, 400 people work in five neighboring businesses, and 45 workers are employed by Stoker Company. Four residences are located within one mile of the site, with the nearest family living one-half mile from Stoker Company. From 1983 to 1989, a family lived in a mobile home on the D&K property, which is around 80 feet from Stoker.
Long term exposure to the contaminants through incidental ingestion and skin absorption at the Stoker site may cause non-cancer adverse effects. However, the ingestion of contaminated fish is not thought to have resulted in significant risk of developing cancer. D&K club members have not reported apparent health hazards due to the ingestion of contaminated fish or incidental ingestion. Additionally, other individuals who may have drank the water or lived near the crop dusting operations do not seem to be showing health impacts. However, it is not possible to evaluate the risks from periodic or long-term exposure from pesticide spray drift from Stoker airplanes due to lack of information. Furthermore, there is a large body of unknown information due to the absence of monitoring data.
The EPA identified three different sources for contamination: 1) the land disposal of rinse water; 2) the burn area at the southern end of the airstrip; 3) the warehouse fire of 1988. The residents living in the mobile home on the D&K property reported a variety of symptoms experienced by the family members. However, the actual health effects that are occurring are unknown due to lack of knowledge of exposure levels. Additionally, the Toxic Chemical Release Inventory contains no record of environmental releases from any industrial facility in Imperial, including Stoker Company. Overall, it is not possible to assess the risks and implications of the effects of contaminants in areas located around the Stoker Company.


Gigginstown House Stud


Jaap Boersma

Jacob "Jaap" Boersma (2 December 1929 – 6 March 2012) was a Dutch politician of the defunct Anti-Revolutionary Party (ARP) now merged into the Christian Democratic Appeal (CDA) party and economist.
Boersma attended a Gymnasium in Leeuwarden from May 1942 until June 1947 and applied at the Rotterdam School of Economics in June 1947 majoring in Economics before transferring to the Free University Amsterdam in July 1948 obtaining an Bachelor of Economics degree in June 1949 before graduating with an Master of Economics degree in July 1953. Boersma worked a financial adviser for the National Christian Trade unions (CNV) from July 1953 until September 1964.
Boersma became a Member of the House of Representatives after the resignation of Jan van Eibergen, taking office on 15 September 1964 serving as a frontbencher chairing the and spokesperson for Economic Affairs, Health, Social Affairs and Environmental policy. Boersma was selected as a Member of the European Parliament and dual served in those positions, taking office on 8 May 1967. After the election of 1971 Boersma was appointed as Minister of Social Affairs in the Cabinet Biesheuvel I, taking office on 6 July 1971. The Cabinet Biesheuvel I fell just one year later on 19 July 1972 and continued to serve in a demissionary capacity until the first cabinet formation of 1972 when it was replaced by the caretaker Cabinet Biesheuvel II with Boersma continuing as Minister of Social Affairs, taking office on 9 August 1972. Boersma served as acting Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries from 1 January 1973 until 11 May 1973 following the appointment of Pierre Lardinois as European Commissioner. After the election of 1972 Boersma returned as a Member of the House of Representatives, taking office on 7 December 1972 but he was still serving in the cabinet and because of dualism customs in the constitutional convention of Dutch politics he couldn't serve a dual mandate he subsequently resigned as a Member of the House of Representatives on 7 March 1973. Following the second cabinet formation of 1972 Boersma continued as Minister of Social Affairs in the Cabinet Den Uyl, taking office on 11 May 1973. The Cabinet Den Uyl fell on 22 March 1977 after four years of tensions in the coalition and continued to serve in a demissionary capacity. After the election of 1977 Boersma again returned as a Member of the House of Representatives, taking office on 8 June 1977 but because of the dualism customs he resigned as Member of the House of Representatives on 8 September 1977. Following the cabinet formation of 1977 Boersma was not giving a cabinet post in the new cabinet, the Cabinet Den Uyl was replaced by the Cabinet Van Agt-Wiegel on 19 December 1977 and he subsequently returned as a Member of the House of Representatives following the appointment of Jan de Koning as Minister for Development Cooperation in the new cabinet, taking office on 16 January 1978 serving as a backbencher until his resignation 1 November 1978.
Boerma retired from national politics and became active in the private sector and public sector and occupied numerous seats as a corporate director and nonprofit director on several boards of directors and supervisory boards (Overseas Gas and Electric Company (OGEM), International Institute of Social History, Transnational Institute and the municipality of Amsterdam) and served on several and councils on behalf of the government (Advisory Council for Spatial Planning and Public Pension Funds APB).
Boerma was known for his abilities as a debater and "policy wonk". Boerma continued to comment on political affairs until his is death at the age of 82 and holds the distinction as the third longest-serving Minister of Social Affairs with .


Gosahasra

Gosahasra or go-sahasra-dana (literally "the gift of a thousand cows") is a ritual donation described in the ancient texts of India. It is one of the sixteen great gifts ("shodasha-mahadana"), and is frequently mentioned in the ancient inscriptions.
Scriptural authority.
The "Atharvaveda"-"parishishta", composed in the 1st millennium BCE, mentions gosahasra, along with hiranyagarbha and tulapurusha donations. These three donations are included among the sixteen great gifts in the later text "Matsya Purana"; the relevant section of the text appears to have been composed during 550-650 CE. The Matsya Purana states that several ancient kings performed the great gifts, and these three donations are most prominent among the great gifts recorded in historical inscriptions.
The "Linga Purana" also mentions the sixteen great gifts; according to R. C. Hazara, the relevant portion of the text was composed during c. 600-1000 CE, most probably after 800 CE. The great gifts are further detailed in the later digests devoted to the topic of charity (dāna), such as Ballala's "Dana-sagara", and the "Danakhanda" section of Hemadri's "Chaturvarga-chintamani" (13th century).


Valenzano Winery

Valenzano Winery is a winery in Shamong in Burlington County, New Jersey, United States. A family grain and livestock farm since 1974, the vineyard was first planted in 1991, and opened to the public in 1996. Valenzano is one of the largest wine producers in New Jersey, having 88 acres of grapes under cultivation, and producing 80,000 cases of wine per year. The winery is named after the family that owns it.
Wines.
Valenzano Winery is located in the Outer Coastal Plain AVA, and produces wine from Cabernet Franc, Cabernet Sauvignon, Chambourcin, Chardonnay, Concord, Fredonia, Ives noir, Merlot, Niagara, Cynthiana, Vidal blanc, and Zinfandel grapes. Valenzano also makes fruit wines from apples, blueberries, cranberries, peaches, plums, raspberries, and mead from locally-produced honey.
Events, licensing, and associations.
Since 2002, the vineyard has hosted "WineFest," a wine festival that over 9,000 people typically attend. Valenzano has a plenary winery license from the New Jersey Division of Alcoholic Beverage Control, which allows it to produce an unrestricted amount of wine, operate up to 15 off-premises sales rooms, and ship up to 12 cases per year to consumers in-state or out-of-state. The winery is a member of the Garden State Wine Growers Association and the Outer Coastal Plain Vineyard Association.
Features and controversy.
The entire winery facility is powered using solar energy, and heated using geothermal energy. Valenzano is located in the Pine Barrens, and has had conflicts with state authorities regarding the construction of a banquet hall and the installation of solar panels on agricultural land. Before the winery was permitted to build its banquet facility, the New Jersey Pinelands Commission required that it conduct environmental and archaeological studies which took three years and $250,000 to complete. In 2011, Valenzano questioned whether the Pinelands Commission had the authority to regulate solar panels. Valenzano Winery has won awards for their wines including 2 double-gold medals from the Finger Lakes Wine Competition and the Indie International Wine Competition.


Mid-Somerset Show

The Mid-Somerset Show, also known as Shepton Show, is a one-day agricultural show held annually in August on a site at Shepton Mallet, Somerset, England. Founded over 150 years ago, the show displays and celebrates agriculture and livestock rearing, crafts and hobbies, local heritage and farming history. Competitions are held for animals, produce and handicrafts in a wide range of classes. Other attractions include trade stands, craft demonstrations and amusements.
History.
The show began life as a ploughing match between local farmers organised by the Evercreech Farmers Club but by the 1870s this had metamorphosed into a cattle show, appropriate given the dairy farming in the region. Separate classes existed for horses, and for cheese and butter-making. The show championed agricultural improvement and the increased saleability of two local products, Cheddar cheese and cider. Despite breaks for two World Wars, the show thrived. After the centenary year in 1952 the show gradually lost importance as older trades died and farming and food production became more industrialised. A rekindling of interest in rural life and a backlash against intensive agriculture have been suggested to explain the recent recovery of the show's fortunes, despite the competition of larger regional shows such as the Bath and West show held only away. It seems more popular than previously in the local community. Since 2002 there has been no admission fee to the show although charges are made for competition entries.
The show today.
The 153rd show in August 2005 attracted a record (estimated) 15,000 people. Competition classes were held in


E. T. York

E. Travis York, Jr. (July 4, 1922 – April 15, 2011) was an American agronomist, professor, university administrator, agricultural extension administrator, and U.S. presidential adviser. York was a native of Alabama, and earned his bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees in agricultural sciences. He served as the director of the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service, the administrator of the federal Extension Service, the interim president of the University of Florida, and the chancellor of the State University System of Florida.
Early life and education.
York was born and raised in the Valley Head community in DeKalb County in northeast Alabama, and came of age during the Great Depression. After graduating from high school in 1939, York enrolled at Alabama Polytechnic Institute (API) (now Auburn University) in Auburn, Alabama, and earned his Bachelor of Science degree in agricultural science in 1942. After completing his World War II service as a captain in the U.S. Army field artillery, York returned to API to continue his education in soil science. During this time, he met and married Vermelle "Vam" Cardwell of Evergreen, Alabama, a business administration undergraduate and president of the API Women's Student Government Association.
York graduated from API with a Master of Science degree in agronomy and soils in 1946, and was accepted into the doctoral program at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. At Cornell, he studied under nationally renowned soil scientist Richard Bradfield, who imparted to York his passionate interest in how food shortages contributed to chronic hunger in much of the developing world. Much of York's later career would focus on ways to harness the resources of the U.S. land-grant educational system to alleviate world hunger.
After finishing his doctor of philosophy degree at Cornell, York was hired as an associate professor of agronomy at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he would later assume the chairmanship of the Department of Agronomy. In 1956, he left North Carolina State to work as a regional director for the Potash Institute.
Extension service.
In 1959, York returned to his alma mater to succeed the retiring P. O. Davis as director of the Alabama Cooperative Extension Service in Auburn, Alabama. York remains the youngest person to serve as Alabama Extension director.
York's two-year tenure as extension director, though brief, was considered a watershed event in Alabama Extension history, reflected in the laudatory remarks in contemporary Alabama newspapers, including the "Andalusia Star-News", which described his brief directorship as "a new and enlightened era" in Alabama farming. York's vision of the Alabama Extension was that of an organization committed to the economic betterment of the state as a whole, rather than only to the farming sector or to urban Alabamians with lawn and gardening problems.
He was a vocal supporter of cooperation with other groups, calling on extension educators to "make these other groups members of our own team rather than [to] compete with them by attempting to do the total job by ourselves." Perceiving the need for a highly trained and qualified staff, York developed a liberal study program to allow extension professionals to qualify for leave to pursue advanced degrees while earning full pay. York also established a practice of replacing vacancies only with professionals with advanced degrees—a policy credited with greatly enhancing the quality of Alabama Extension programming.
York is remembered for ending the long-standing public perception that the Alabama Extension was hopelessly entangled in local, state and even national politics. One of his earliest actions as the new Alabama Extension director was to remove the organization from partisan politics. He invited the senior county extension agents to a dinner, all of whom had actively used their positions in state and local politics, and announced to his shocked audience that anyone who used his position for political gain or influence in the future would be summarily fired.
In 1961, at the request of U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Orville Freeman, York took a planned leave of absence as director of the Alabama Extension to serve as the administrator for the federal Extension Service (now the Cooperative State Research, Education and Extension Service) in Washington, D.C., and became the youngest person to ever hold the position.
University administrator.
Instead of returning to Auburn University as he originally planned, York accepted an offer to be the provost for agriculture at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. Later, he also served as the university's vice president for agricultural, natural and human resources, and its executive vice president.
During his tenure at Florida, he was credited with implementing far-reaching changes. He was remembered for merging the College of Agricultural Life Sciences, the Florida Cooperative Extension Service, and the Florida Agricultural Experiment Station under the Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences (IFAS) in 1964. He established the Center for Tropical Agriculture, which extended IFAS' international influence, and initiated DARE (Developing Agricultural Resources Effectively), a long-range agricultural planning program. York also founded SHARE (Special Help for Agricultural Research and Education), a University of Florida Foundation program that raises private funds for agricultural research. Since its inception, SHARE has raised more than $169 million through monetary and in-kind gifts from thousands of donors.
Upon the resignation of university president Stephen C. O'Connell in 1973, York was named interim president of the University of Florida. After Robert Q. Marston was chosen as his permanent successor in 1974, York was appointed chancellor of the State University System of Florida, serving from 1975 until 1980.
Legacy.
York retired from academia in 1980 to devote his full-time efforts to fighting global hunger, primarily by improving the agricultural infrastructure in developing countries. He was appointed chairman of the Board for International Food and Agricultural Development (BIFAD) (a subagency of the Agency for International Development (AID)) by President Jimmy Carter, which works to strengthen and mobilize the resources of American land-grant universities to help Third World countries improve their agricultural industries through better educational and research institutions. He served in this position for three years and was succeeded by William E. Lavery. York also served as the chairman of the Board of the International Fertilizer Development Center, with sponsored programs around the world.
York authored more than 100 technical papers, journal articles and books, and lectured at more than forty universities in the United States and throughout the world. He served as an adviser on sustainable agricultural development and famine relief to U.S. Presidents John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Baines Johnson, Richard M. Nixon, Gerald R. Ford, Jimmy Carter and Ronald Reagan.
Among his many life-time honors, York received honorary doctorates from Auburn, Florida, Ohio State and North Carolina State, and was a member of the Alabama Agricultural Hall of Honor and the Florida Agricultural Hall of Fame. In 1997, the Museum of Florida History named York as a "Great Floridian," becoming one of the first twelve individuals honored for "shaping the state of Florida as we know it today."
Although York achieved his greatest academic stature at the University of Florida, he and his wife Vam remained loyal Auburn University alumni. Dr. and Mrs. York contributed more than $1 million to Auburn, including a $300,000 planned gift to the College of Business; more than $600,000 to the E.T. and Vam York Endowed Fund for Excellence in International Agriculture to support worldwide experiences for faculty and graduate students; and $150,000 to establish the E.T. York Distinguished Lecturer Series, which draws national and international leaders in agriculture and related disciplines to deliver public addresses on the Auburn campus.
York died on April 15, 2011 in Gainesville; he was 88 years old. He was survived by Vam, his wife of 64 years, and their son Travis and daughter Lisa.