The Toledo chronicle. [volume] (Toledo, Tama County, Iowa) 1873-1924, 1876-05-04
Speech Of Hon. James Wilson.

q
in the erson of Mr.. Wilson. who is con-
. an IL, in s,ason IN out Of season, lool
ing out for the interests Of the farmer.l
The House being as in Committee Of
the Whole for debate only
Mr.. WILSON, of Iowa, said:
Nr. SPEAKER: / take an interest in the
Department of Agriculture. visit it Of
ten. 1t rests the eye, as it were, after
looking upon the severe faces across the
Hall, to gaze upon shrub, flower, or
bird. 1t rests the mind after following
the flights Of fancy and analytica! dis
qusitions of gentlemen to contemplate ma
ture in her less demonstrative moods. 1t
is next to a visit to the prairies 10 visit the
Smithsonian Institution and Agricultural
Department grounds, TO see nature robing
her beauties in spring verdure. These
strol,s usually include utilitarlan calls at
the offices that are sending all over the
country seeds, plants, roots, and cuttings
tina. are to enable our people IN every
State of the Union to add to the comforts
and luxuries of life and prevent the ex-
portation of SIS, 900 900 in gold to foreign
countries for such commodities as can be
produced at home, where our soil and eli
mate are rs diversified as our wants in
these respects.
The department of Agriculture has
been the means of introducing many of
the comforts and necessities of life among
our people better grains, II greater va
riety of vegetables suitable to the differ
ent ATTITUDES of the country. The i'm
provementS necessary to he made IN these
directions are as great to-day as at any
time III the past. The greatest OF all
our crops and the most important is the
grass crop. An empire lies in the Missis-
sippi Valley to be seeded down with tame
grasses, and while we have plenty OF men
who can craditably fill position on the
supreme bench, we have very few who
can successfully seed down field in
grass that will Craze COW or steer to
ca CHI acre in both wet and dry seasons.
The common law of Eng land applies to
causes in our courts between citizens, and
presidents centuries old can be quoted in
the adjudication of cases arising to-day.
Human nature is the same as it was
hundred years ago; but our soil and eli
mate are different from most other soils
and climates, while our prosperity as ag-
riculturists keeps pace with the growth OF
our knowledge of all the elements chat
enter into the production of our staple
crop.
The only aid the farmers of the coun-
try have outside of their individual expert
ments and observation TO enable them to
determine what Is most suitable and prof
liable as grasses, grains, roots, trees, and
shrubs, and their adaptabilitY to our va
ried attitudes, has come from the De-
partment Of Agriculture. II the Depart
ment can intro uce grass plant that will
stand our winters as well rs timothy, and
be in blossom in summer month later or
q month earlier than timothy and blue
grass, it will lay the foundation Of wealth
not TO be measured by the total sum ap-
rrorriated by this bill multiplied BY IL
self The Department is distributing
Italian rye grass this spring that may suit
snalh Of the forty-first parallel of lati-
tude, where the winters somewhat rescm
Bile Southern Europe But the great grass
belt is north of that latitude, and if there
is a grass plant IN any part of the Old
World that will add to our pastures and
meadows, we need il and must have it.
We may have to wait a quarter of a cen
tury till we become possessed OF the
knowledge in this direction we need. In
dividual effort may discover and demons
trate in lifetime what the Department
of A griculture could bring about and pub
lish to the country in season.
We buv six million dollars worth of
barley in a season, and nearly as much
fay-seed. We have in the Northwest
about two weeks of hot, moist weather,
about the last of June and first Of July,
when barley is in blossom. 1t rusts the
straw. preventing the proper ripening OF
the grain, and also discolors it, rendering
it unfit for many purposes for which bar
ley is used and, in consequence, we are
superior sample The Uepaiffftfn Ui
Agriculture has imported one thousand
bushels from England, with the assistance
of one Of our consuls, that mayn able use
to solve the problem, if il ripens earlier or
later or is better fitted naturally to resist
the influence | have spoken of.
IA1IU Is a uI.auf aCluring establishment.
in my district, at Cedar Rapids, that
makes oatmeal from three thousand BUSH
els of oats every day, sending the meal
to Glasgow. A much greater breadth of
oats has been sown within radius of fifty
miles from Cedar Rapids. But we can
only raise oats weighing thirty two pounds
to the bushel, while the standard in most
foreign countries is forty-two pounds
The Department of Agriculture is distrih-
ing fortytive and fifty pounds to the
bushel.
1t is perhaps not universally known that
the country suffers more from WORKOUT
seeds than worn out land. When Il field
is partly seeded with oats received from
the Department weighing fifty pounds to
the bushel, and partly with the best com.
mon oats that could be procured Weighing
thirty-seveh pounds to the bushel, and
when the heavier oats produced sixty
five bushels an acre weighing forty-eight
pounds to the bushel, and the lighter oats
produced forty-eight bushels an acre
weighing thirty one pounds to the bushel,
it is time every farmer should know what
is meant by WORKOUT seed, the percentage
of annual deterioration, and the necessity
of periodical renewal, where the best seed
can bs had, and what sections of our
country are best adapted to this and other
crops.
We have in the Department the best
Agricultural Library in the country. No
provision is made in the bill for librarian.
There is no provision for an assistant
chemist. In an analytical laboratory a
chemist cannot work without an assistant
Perhaps no feature Of this Department
is of as much value to the country as the |
collection and dissemination of statistical |
information respecting our crops their |
compared with past seasons in !
all parts of the country, the probable ex-
cess or deficiency, the probable increase ,
or depression of price consequent upon
the supply and while during the present |
year the stagnation of our industries has
prevented the laboring man from earning
the money to buy wheat, bread, and beef
to the extent he would were our industries
and has kept the price of