Word: soils
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...outsider, the 250,000 whites of Rhodesia would seem to have little need to declare independence from Britain. They seem happy enough as they are. The climate is marvelous, the soil fertile, the servants plentiful and the commerce thriving-thanks largely to Commonwealth tariff protection for their goods. Moreover, since Britain has allowed them a free hand in governing themselves since 1923, Rhodesians have no trouble whatsoever in keeping firm control over the colony's 4,000,000 blacks, only 60,000 of whom are even eligible to vote...
Waiting for Paul in a suite at the Waldorf-Astoria was Lyndon Johnson. Officially, the first meeting of Pontiff and President on U.S. soil was expected to last about half an hour, but it was unthinkable that a normally voluble Italian and an incurably loquacious Texan could stick to schedule-so the two men, assisted by two interpreters, talked on for 46 minutes about Viet Nam, India, Pakistan, the Dominican Republic, the conquest of hunger. Paul praised recent U.S. efforts to advance the cause of civil rights. Johnson thought that the Pope's visit would provide a much needed...
...chief rabbinate to an accommodating Arab. Because of pressure from religious parties, the Israeli government ordered the rabbinate to sell all public lands as well for the duration of Shemittah. During the sabbatical year, Abdullah thus will be legal owner of more than 1,000,000 acres of Israel soil...
...ingenious solutions. One Orthodox kibbutz near Tel Aviv turns to hydroponic farming during Shemittah: seeds are planted in 90-ft.-long gravel-filled concrete plots, where they are chemically treated until the year is out. Although the method is expensive, the plants grow bigger than they do in ordinary soil. Another farm grows its crops in chemically-treated straw. Less scrupulous kibbutzim get around the prohibition against planting during Shemittah by covering their tractors with canopies; according to one tortuous rabbinical interpretation, planting is legal if it is done inside an enclosure. Horrified by all such agonized evasions of Shemittah...
...still, some water gets away. Soil experts are spraying plants with anti-transpirant chemicals, usually fatty acids, to reduce the loss of water from leaves. Because more than half of most irrigation water evaporates or is absorbed by the soil before it reaches its destination, Israeli farmers are encouraged to apply a wax coating to their ditches to form a barrier against absorption. Like the ancient Nabataeans who once cultivated the desert, the Israelis also practice "runoff farming." But the Nabataeans used wadi beds as catch basins; the Israelis cut contoured strips and seal alternating strips with modern, petroleum-based...