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".-BROUGHT GREAT HAPPINESS.
7
tsar
O the traveler who has wan
dered with men of many
tastes all over the world,
the thought must often
have come, "Of what use
are all the strange plants
Wm ) 1 which make up the land-
A'stA-' f il l -LI t A 1"
scapes oi me jiiuiuicsi
The globe, with Its kaleido
scopic panorama of people,
animals, and plants, has
been whirled before you,
as it were, and you have in
your minds the picture of a
ball circling through space, covered with a
film of plants, animals, and men in constant
change. So varied is this film of plants that,
there are probably half a million distinct, spe
cific forms in it, and yet man uses only a few
hundreds for his own purposes.
To change, in a measure, the distribution
of the really useful plants of the world is what
the office of foreign seed and plant introduc
tion of the Department of Agriculture is try
ing to do. The motive underlying this work
might be called the ambition to 1 make the
world more habitable. If one is Inclined to
be pessimistic with regard to the food supply
of the world, he has only to talk to any one
of the enthusiasts of the Department of Agri-,
culture to get a picture of the widening vista
of agricultural possibilities which would make
Mm realize that the food problems of the race
are not hung in the balance of our great plains
area, and that the food-producing power of
the world is still practicaly unknown, because
we have just begun to study in a modern way
the relative performance of different plants.
We may not always grow the plants we do
now. Some of them are expensive food pro
ducers, some produce foods that are difficult
to digest, and some we'may leave behind as
we learn to like others better.
What to grow was not so serious a ques
tion t the early Phoenician peasant, who
knew perhaps a dozen crops, as it is becoming
to the American agriculturist, who can pick
jfrom the crops of all the world the one best
vyi-to his land and climate. Changes come
fcrfepldly nowadays that if a man today talks
of "pears" he may mean what are ordinarily
thought of as pears, or he may refer to alli
gator pears which he is growing in Florida,
or prickly pears which he is cultivating in
Texas. Botlj the alligator pear and the prickly
pear have come in as crops to be reckoned
with within the past fifteen years, and already
the stock-raisers of the "South are wondering
If they should plant spiny or spineless forms
of the prickly pear cactus, and the fruit
growers of Florida are inquiring as to which
of the several varieties of alligator pear tree
is going to be the most productive and profit
able. To help find the plant which will produce
the best results of any that can be grown, on
every acre of land in the United States, is, in
general, the broad policy of the office of seed
and plant introduction of the bureau of plant
Industry.
Although begun in a systematic way and as
a distinct activity of the department in 1897,
it has barely touched the fringe of Its possi
bilities. The 31,000 different plant Immigrants
-which have come in, and have either died or
are now growing Bomewhere in this country,
represent a small beginning only, and have
merely helped to show the greatness of the
possibilities which progress In agricultural re
search is creating.
"Yon will soon have all the crops in," Is
the remark of those who have given the mat
ter little thought. Our own lives change with
every moment of time, and so do the lives of
plants. The strains of potato which our
grandfathers grew are, with few exceptions,
different from the strains in vogue today; and,
fitting their lives Into the various conditions
of soil and climate, the original wild South
American species of potato, Solanum tube
rosum, assumes in the hands of men a thou
sand different forms.
In whatever parts of the world new forms
may spring Into existence it matters not; our
potato-growers should be able to try every
sort of importance and every wild, hardy spe
cies, whether it comes from the manse of a
Scottish parson, is discovered as a wild spe
cies along the Paraguay river by an American
railway bridge builder, Is found among the
mountains of Colombia by Jesuit priest, is
gathered by a forest ranger in the dry regions
of an Indian reservation in New Mexico, or
Is secured by a trained collector from the
Chlloe Islands off the coast of Chile. It makes
little difference; they must all come in as
plant immigrants to show what they can do
In the gardens of American experts. There
Is always the chance that they may be thrown
out as unprofitable; but, if they have desirable
characters, they can be blended with others,
or exploited with others, if they are superior
for any of the potato regions of this country.
It may be new to many that every day plant
Immigrants from different parts of the world
arrive in Washington, and every day, through
the mails, hundreds of these disinfected ar
rivals go out to find a new home in some part
of the country.
It Is a diffleult matter to give an adequate
Impression of the magnitude and importance
to the country of this stream of new plant im
migrants which for 14 years has been pouring
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into the country, and has been directed by a
great and growing body of research men and
women into those regions where it was
thought they might make their homes.
In the brief space of a short article, and to
avoid what would be almost a bare enumera
tion of plant names, I prefer to treat only of
a few of the many important problems with
which the office is working, passing by, also,
the introduction of the Durum wheat, the
Japanese rice, and giving the Siberian alfalfas,
which are earning for the farmers of the coun
try many millions of dollars a year, a bare
mention, for the reason that they have been
so often described in the newspapers of the
country.
The mango is one of the really great fruits
of the world. India, with its hundreds of mil
lions of people, has for centuries held it
sacred, and celebrates annual ceremonies in
its honor. The great Mogul Akbar, who
reigned in the 16th century, planted the fa
mous Lak Bag, an orchard of a hundred thou
sand mangoes, and some of these still remain
alive. It is a fruit the importance of which
Americans are at last beginning to recognize,
notwithstanding the unfortunate discredit
which the worthless seedling mangos of the
West Indies have given It in the minds of
Americans generally.
There are probably more varieties of man
goe than there are of peaches. I have heard
of one collection cf BOO different sorts in In
dia. There are exquisitely flavored varieties
no larger than a plum, and there are delicious
sorts the fruits of which are six pounds in
weight. In India, where the wage of a coolie
is not over 10 cents a day, there are varieties
which sell for $6.60 a hundred, and the com
monest sorts bring over a cent apiece.
The great mango trees of India are said to
reach a height of 70 feet, and are so loaded
down with fruit that over $150 worth has been
sold from a single tree.
These fine varieties, practically as free from
fiber as a freestone peach, can be eaten with
a spoon as easily as a cantaloupe. Train
loads of these are shipped from the mango
growing centers of India and distributed in the
densely peopled cities of that great semi-tropical
empire; and yet, notwithstanding the
great importance of this fruit, the agricultural
study of It from the new standpoint has
scarcely been begun. I believe that it has
never, for example, been tested on any but its
own roots. .
We have gathered together In Florida and
Porto Rico and Hawaii more than a hundred
varieties, and some which we have fruited
have already attracted the attention of the
fancy fruit-dealers, who agree that the demand
for these will increase as fast as the supply
can be created, and maintain that extravagant
prices, such as 60 or even 75 cents apiece,
will be paid for the large, showy, delicious
fruits. Last year 300 dozen Mulgoba mangos
were sold in Florida for $3 a dozen. The Gov
ernor of Porto Rico has committed himself to
a policy which, if carried out, will cover the
island with hundreds of thousands of mango
trees of the better varieties.
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One of the oldest cultivated plants in the
world Is the date palm. At least 4,000 years
ago it was growing on the banks of the Eu
phrates, and it is this plant ar1 the camel that
together made it possible for the Arabs to
populate the great deserts of northern Africa
and Asia. The date palms would grow where
the water was alkaline, and the camels were
able to make long journeys across the desert
to take the dates to the coast to market and
sell them for wheat and olives.
In these deserts of the old world, millions of
Arabs live on dates, for the date palm can be
cultivated on land so salty as to prevent the
culture of any other paying crop, and it will
live in the hottest regions on the face of the
globe; not even a temperature of 125 degrees
F. will affect it This obliging plant does not,
however, insist on such temperatures, but will
stand some frost, and has been known to live
where the mercury falls to 12 degrees F.
It is also the only wood obtainable in the
oases of the Sahara, and on the shores of
Arabia boats are made of it.
The date palm has both male and female
flowers and they occur on separate plants, and
the Arabs have to plant one male for every
plantation of a hundred females, making a
harem as it were. The artificial pollination or
fertilization of the female palms is one of the
most interesting processes practiced with
plants, a spray of flowers from a male palm
being bound with a bit of palm-leaf fiber in
each inflorescence of the female tree. Propa
gation of the date palm can be accomplished
by means of seeds, or suckers, which are
thrown up at the base of the palm. Suckers
will start, however, on land so salty that the
seeds refuse to grow on it.
Four years from seed, trees of some varie
ties begin to bear and in six years will have
paying crops of dates. They live to a much
greater age than almost any other of the fruit
trees, and specimens a century old are said to
be still a good investment
The date is not a dry-land crop, but requires
irrigation to grow and produce fruit A planta
tion once established requires to be kept free
of weeds, to be pollinated when the palms
come into bloom,, and to have the fruit har-
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vested when ripe. Of insect pests
we know too little as yet, though
the prospective planter should
count this in his estimate of ex
pense; remembering, however,
that modern scientific methods
have overcome the greatest fruit
pests, and that these on the palm
are not different in general char
acter from those which are now
under complete control.
Very little pruning of the palms
Is necessary, and the harvesting Is
very simple, since the dates grow
in great bunches, which often
weigh from 20 to 40 pounds apiece.
There are over a hundred varie
ties of dates now growing in the
government gardens in California
and Arizona, from which are being
distributed to prospective planters
suckers as they grow. This accomplishment
of the Department of Agriculture is not the re
sult of any one man's effort, but the product
of at least, a dozen minds working over a pe
riod of 20 years and in seven different coun
tries There are among these hundred varieties
those which candy on the tree, others which
are used mainly for cooking, and some which
are hard and not sticky. There are early
varieties and late-ripening ones, varieties short
and long, and every sort can be told by the
grooves on its seeds.
The date as a delicacy is known to every
American child, but, as a food, remains to be
discovered by the American public. When
the date plantations of Arizona and California
come into full bearing, as they should in
about ten years, the hard, dry dates, for ex
ample, now quite unknown on our markets,
are sure to come into prominence and find
their way to the tables of the poor as well as
of the rich. .The heat of our American sum
mers is forcing us to study the hot-weather
diets of other countries, and dates are sure to
become important Items of food.
The persimmon of the South, on which the
opossum fattens, is a very different fruit from
its relative the kaki, or persimmon of the
Orient, the growing of which is so great, an
industry in Japan as to nearly equal the Jap
anese orange-growing industry in importance.
Our persimmon is a wild fruit, which will
some day be domesticated, while the kakl has
been cultivated so long that it is represented
by different forms and colors. It is true that
the Oriental persimmon has been grown in this
country; in fact, tho census records a produc
tion of 68 tons; but this Is scarcely a befrn
ning as compared with the 194,000 tons, which
is the output of Japan.
We have misunderstood the persimmon. Our
own wild ones we can eat only after they have
been touched by the frost, and the imported
Japanese ones we have left until they become
soft and mushy and almost on the verge of
decay. We never thought until quite recently
of wondering whether In a land where the
persimmon had been cultivated for centuries
they would not have worked out some artifi
cial -method for removing the objectionable
pucker. In Japan we find this is done by
packing the fruit in barrels saturated with
sake, and Mr. H. C. Gore, of the Department
of Agriculture, is now working out new meth
ods of processing the Oriental persimmon, so
that it can be eaten when hard as an apple,
and there will no longer be any reason why it
should not take its place among the great
fruits of the country. v
The whole question of the improvement of
the persimmon has been opened up, and we
are getting for this work the small-fruited spe
cies called "lotus," from Algeria; a tropical
species with white, cheese-like pulp, from Man
ila, Mexico, Erithea, and Rhodesia; species
from Bangalore, from Sydney, from Madras,
from the Nankau Pass, in China, and from the
Caucasus.
If the Oriental timber bamboo had produced
seeds oftener than once in 40 years it would
long ago have been introduced and be now
growing in the South. The fact that it had
to be brought over in the form of living
plants, and that these plants required special
treatment, has stood in the way of the quick
distribution of this most important plant
throughout those portions of America where it
will grow. After several unsuccessful at
tempts, a beginning has at last been made, anu
the department has a grove of Oriental bam
boos in northern Florida, and a search is be
ing made In different parts of the world for
all those species which are adapted to our
climate.
In this country I predict it will be used
earliest for barrel hoops, for cheap Irrigating
pipes, for vine-stakes and trellises, for light
ladders and stays for overloaded fruit trees,
for baskets and light fruit shipping crates, and
for food. As wind-breaks and to hold canal
banks and prevent the erosion of steep hill
sides, there are species which excel all othei
plants, while for light furniture and Jalousies
It is sure to find a market whenever the greer
timber Is available.
r -
I take pleasure In stating that I
hnve used Dr. Kilmer's Swamp-Hoot,
that I was greatly benefited by the
camo and have used it in my family.
I had a son, when quite young he suf
fered from bladder or kidney affliction.
I called in my physician, he attended
him, but did him no good. Almost by
accident I noticed an advertisement
about the curative properties of Dr.
Kilmer's Swamp-Root. I procured a
bottle and gave it to him according to
directions. It cured him of what we
thought was almost impossible and
the same with others of my family
I have such strong faith in Swamp
Root that I have never done without
It in my family since the wonderful
cure of my son as well as myself. I
recommend it to all who suffer from
kidney cr bladder troubles and I am
led to believe that it is one of the
best medicines lor the fmrpose tor
which it is used, that has ever been,
discovered.
This Is my experience from the use
of Swamp-Root. Wishing the promo
ters of this wonderful medicine a largt
sale to the suffering public, I am,
Yours respectfully,
W. H. M'AFEE,
College Park, Ga.
Witness,
E. O. WIIXIAMS, Notary Public
LrUrrlo
Dr. Kllmrr A C.
niMrhMBtra, N. Y.
Prove What Swamp-Root Will Do For Yo
Send to Dr Kilmer & Co., Blngham
ton, N. Y., for a sample bottle. It will
Convince anyone. You will also re
ceive a booklet of valuable informa
tion, telling all about the kidneys and
bladder. When writing, be sure and
mention this paper. Regular fifty-cent
and one-dollar size bottles for Bala at
all drug stores.
Guess What.
Tom Yes, Miss Roxley and I are
strangers now. I've been asked not
to call there again.
Jack I'll bet old Roxley had a hand
in that.
Tom Well-er not a hand exactly.
A Quarter Century
Before the public. Over Five Million Fre
Samples given away each year. The con
stant and increasing sales from sample
proves the genuine merit of Allen's Foot
Ease, the antiseptic powder to be shaken
into the shoes for Tired, Aching, Swollen
Tender feet. Sample free. Address, Allea
S. Olmsted, Le Roy, N. Y.
Curative Agent.
"Do you think an ice cold plunge is
good for people?"
"Well," replied the indolent person,
"I fell in while skating and I must ad
mit that the fright cured me of , hio
coughs." THE ONE GIRL FOR HIM.
The Girl (who has been suffering
from sore throat) The doctor told
me that I must never talk for mora
than two minutes at a time.
The Man How delightful! Darling
will you marry me?
HARD TO DROP
But Many Drop It
A young Calif, wife talks about
coffee:
"It was hard to drop Mocha and
Java and give Postum a trial, but my
nerves were so shattered that I wai
a nervous wreck, and of course that
means all kinds of ills.
"At first I thought bicycle riding
caused It and I gave it up, but my con
dition remained unchanged. I did not
want to acknowledge coffee caused the
trouble for I was very fond of it.
"About that time a friend came to
live with us, and I noticed that after
he had been with us a week he would
not drink his coffee any more. I asked
him the reason. He replied, T have
not had a headache since I left off
drinking coffee, some months ago, till
last week, when I began again, here at
your table. I don't see how anyone
can like coffee, anyway, after drink
ing Postum!
"I said nothing, but at once ordered
a package of Postum. That was five
months ago, and we have drank no
coffee since, except on two occasions
when we had company, and the result
each time was that my husband could
not sleep, but lay awake and tossed
and talked half the night. We were
convinced that coffee caused his suf
fering, so we returned to Postum, con
vinced that the coffee was an enemy,
instead of a friend, and he Is troubled
no more by insomnia.
"I, myself, have gained 8 pounds in
weight, and my nerves have ceased to
quiver. t seems so easy now to quit
the old coffee that caused our aches
and ills and take up Postum." Name
given by Postum Co., Battle Creek.
Mich.
Read the little book, "The Road to
Wellville," In pkgs. "There's a reason.
Ever read the above letter t A neiv
ne appears (rem time to time. They
are genuine, true, uud fall of bum a a
Interest.
" ' ' 1