Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1878-07-05
FROM &c. A. P" ON THE MAINE COAST
The Abused Agricultural Depart.
ment,
(Corres 1ondeuce of The Star.

CCorres 1ondeuce of The STAR
PENOBSCoT BAY, Me-. July 2 1878
Abuse of the Agricultural department, and
Tor the most part unwarranted abuse, long
since became chronic, especially, if not wholly,
however. with those who are ignorant
OF lts workings, OF the good it accOmpiSheS,
and may accomplish, and who know nothing
OF agriculture, practically or theoretical Y.
The following paragraph. which clip from the
Name Standard, is a fair sample of the many
OF IKE tone which go the rounds of the press :
IAN exchange says in relation to the SEEDS ssnt
out by the Agricultural department at Washng-
ss ksyp S sent & ont by thai
produce pumpkins, and some of the seeds appear t.
long ago, lady who had fine lot of flower
from the puI Ieau, al in nice cOlored packets and
When they came up he WIN m
alike. and a-tObacco!'
This paragraph does little credit to the in
ed by single fact. The Hover RS seeds sent out
by the department are in white, not colOred
packets; and admitting that the above state
dae1t ment Is true, and that the packets all
contained tobacco seeds what must be
thought of the lady" florist who planted them
with with the expectation of having variety of
flowers from them? Everybody who has ever
seen flower seeds, knows that they differ as
much III shape and appearance as do vegetable
seeds; and what would be thought, for ex-
ample, OF a farmer who should plant beet
seed. and expect to raise carrots, parsnips
turnipS, etc, from them? Inpoint of fact il is
impossible that any such mistake could occur
IN IN me ne putthg up OF tloWer seeds as related
seeds are kept entirely distinct from the
other seeds, and they are under the direct
personal supervision of lady of long expert
dltlon to her many years service in the depart
ment, was trained to it from youth, her father
having been ,, one Of the first florists in this
Fourth Congress awarded the tardy recogni
tiOn of well deserved increase of salary, puts
up mCst OF the seed herself, and all the work
is done on the table at which she sits. So
much for this branch OF a Subject.
VI the seeds in general sent out by the de-
paftment the remark is often made that they
never come up. In the hands of rude flor
ISIS, as above described, and of gardeners of
Probabie that the seeds sometimes fail
~ II YOU'D De strange If they did not. Seeds
p1antfed ppanted too deep or not deep enough, seeds
from dfOuth or excessive moisture, will often
1all TO germlnate, no matter where procured
1 Inc packages sent out by the department bear
how to plant, etc. But the department does
not attempt to furnish brains with the seeds,
an and 1t is obvious that seeds sometimes reach
those who are more in want of brains than of
SEEDS. For the past four years have been
using flower and garden seeds obtained from
the Agricultural department, and in the same
florist, from seed farm in Massachusetts
and from an old established seed house in
boston. The seeds from the department have
proved true in every instance, have gerlni-
mated readily and produced abundanty while
the seeds obtained from other sources have
oiten failed: In Package of nasturtium
many imperfect seeds, and l found melon
Iced in the package, Of the parsnip seed OBJ
tanned from the same place, at least one-half
laiIed TO germlnate, necessitating. second
sowing. do not wish to be underStood as
saying, indirectly or otherwise, that good seed
can only be procured from the Agricultural
department. But it gets the best in the first
place, and is sure never to carry any seed
over from one season to the next. The NJ C's
who aDuse the department publicly are greedy
enough II! thelr demands upon it, and are sure
In Duylng from seedsmen you may get seeds
which have been on hand for years, and which
have lost their vitality, Thin scaly seeds,
such as parsnip, rhubarb, &c, are only good
for one. year. and the vitality of other seeds
ranges from two to ten years. c. A. p.
The President i'm Pennsylvania.
THE WYOMING CENTENNIAL.
Inc centennial celebration OF the Wyoming
massacre. was begun Wednesday, at Wyom.
ing, Pa. The crowd assembled was estimated
at G0,N0. President Hayes, Secretary Sher-
man, Attorney General Devens and Gov
Hartranft, with numerous staff, were among
s ns
and others The celebration was continued
yesterday with R great spirit. a vast crowd
civil societies was more than four miles long,
and passed in review before President Hayes
and Governor Hartranft. The President held
are aareception at the residence OF VIM. Conying;;
ham and ten thousand people were gathered
on the lawn. He was introduced to tie crowd
by H. Nj. Hoyt, the republican candidate for
and made brief concIud
decessor in officer, Gen. Grant, he did know
enough to not say anything, he hoped he did
kn9W kn Gsv when to stop Speeches were also made
retary Sherman and Attorney General
Devens. Fireworks and general illumina-
tlOn closed the proceedings of the day.
THE PRESIDENTS OPINION OF THE POTTER
INVESTIGATION.
BALTIMORE S'tn special says that in cOnver
salon at Wilkesbarre yesterday the President
said to reporter. that upon returning to
business he will arrange to attend the soldiers
reunion at NOrwalk, Ohio, two weeks hence if
nothing interferes.. Being informed that the
ked that it was of small consequence
whether they were in session or enioying a
recess; that the Whole affair so far was a
faree-an example, indeed, of much cry and
little wool, or. more correctly, no Wool at all.
If they had accomplished anything it was the
reafflrmlng by Congress of his title, which
was, probably, what they did not start out to
whom he named, Originted the affair, and were
conducting its operations under cover.
WHAT SECRETARY SHERMAN SAID ABOUT vARI.
OUS MATTERS.
Secretary Sherman is beset with inquiries
about resumption and the probable duration
OF the hard times. He replies that he is conf
dent resumption will be accomplished before
Congress meets, and that business will then
greatly improve. Referring to Weber's testl-
mony that he (Weber) had burned the alleged
Sherman letter, the secretary says that the
story has been cOncocted within ten days. The
idea that Weber should have burned the letter
is absurd and Mr.. Sherman thinks such story
will deceive no one acquainted with the dark
ness OF Louisiana politics The secretary says
that ii he had the most distant recollection of
having written the alleged letter he would ac-
knowledge it promptly, for there is much in it
that he would have said had he been writing
at that time, but he has no recollection what
ever OF having written a letter to Anderson
and Weber at any time.
CHARGE OF PERJURY AGAINST CAPTAIN
JENKs.-The only new phase of the political
scandal growing out of the investigation, is
movement to indict Capt. jerks for perjury.
IL appears that some days ago when jerks
was on the witness stand he was shown by Re-
preventative MacMahon an affidavit signed
by himself and atteSted by notary named
Seymour, which he denied was his signature
A day or two ago, before the New Orleans sui
committee, Seymour was called with reference
to the genuineneSs of the signature and he
SWore that jerks did sign the paper in his
Office. Seymour has been directed by the
committee to get all the witnesses who were
present in the room (there are alleged to be
a 80 Ito pirr Al