Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1886-04-07
THE CONGRESSIONAL SEED SUPPLY
A Small Army Of Men and Women En-.
gagged In Preparing the Seeds.

THE CONGRESSIONAL SEED SUPPLY
gagged I'm Preparing the Seeds.
GERMS OF REFORM AT THE AGRICULTURAL
EXPERIMENTATION THE SEEDS ARE TESTED
ExPEDIENTs FOR SAVING TIME-A GLANCE
INTO THE WORK ROOM.
Thirty-two men and one hundred and forty
women are busy in the annex of the Agricul-
tural department building supplying the con-
gressional demand for seed. Six thousand
paper packages of vegetable seed, five hundred
OF flower seed, three hundred of tobacco, twenty
quarts OF sorghum twenty Of corn, fifty of grass,
twenty eight quarts of sugar beet and thirty
two quarts of cotton seed. That is the allow
auce of each Senator and Representative in
Congress. If put up in one order each men,
ber's allowance would fill eight large mail
sacks. AS there are four hundred and nine
Senators and Representatives the seed division
OF the Agricultural department, as can easily
be imagined, is q very busy institution at GER
tain seasons of the year. The seeds distributed
! through members of Congress comprise about
twO-thirds OF the whole amount disposed of by
the Agricultural department. The remaining
third goes TO persons in various parts OF the
country who act as agents of the department.
but receive no compensation. Members furnish
to the department. the names of those to whom
they desire to have the seeds sent, though
sometimes they have the whole or a
portion of their allowances sent to them,
and attend to the distribution themselves.
The force of the seed division is required to
receive, assert, pack, label and prepare the
packages tor the mail sacks, in which they are
hauled away from the department.. The little
paper bags or pockets are cut and made in one
end Of the large room where the seeds are
| in the printing Office in the department. At
one long table is a company of young women.
| FASTING the bags or pockets, which are arranged
in boxes and sent at once to the printer. Upon
| their return they go to other tables where they
are filled with the seed intended tor them. The
| labor is divided and subdivided so as to facli-
| tate the work as much as possible One lady
who has pan of seed before her, and tiny
| measure, fills the bag or pocket; her neighbor
| table the department frank is put on, and so on
until the package is finally placed in the mail
sack. All of this work is carried on in a most
| systematic manner, with little noise and no
confusion.
TIME SAVING ExPEDIENTS.
| Many little expedients for saving time have
| been introduced by Major VIM. NJ. King, the
| chief of the division. One very simple device
saves great deaf by preventing Interruptions
In the work of the women in the main room.
There Is door between this room and the main
Office. Upon this door has been hung a large
black board. Ii there Is any reason for calling
any OF the ladies or others in the large room to
the office Major King writes upon this black
board the initials of the person wanted. The
person thus indicated quickly appears, and, AS
she passes the doorway, grasses her initials In
through the long room to find the person
wanted, using considerable of his own
the the attention of S' very one a else. While
STAR reporter was looking over the
room at the scores OF busy workers at the tables
Major King wrote the letter "E'' on the black
| board. A lady at the other end of the room
responded instantly. The lady was Airs. Ella
| Edwards, who has charge OF the force engaged
| in the main room in making the bags and put
| ting up the seed. Mrs. Edwards conducted the
| reporter through the establishment, from the
| h1r hgtyl
| as they received in the department. to
where the. evolution into small packages
properly labelled and franked is completed.
DIR. II. Il. Brauham is superintendent vi the
seed room. When the seeds are packed ready
tor mailing, they go to Mr.. Edmund Burke, the
| mailing clerk, VINO receives from the depart
ment the congressional orders, and attends to
| filling them.
| THE QUALITY OF SEEDS
Maj. King has acted OH the principle that the
country expects from the present administra.
ton not only pure democracy, but pure and
good seed. Agricultural department seed have
| NTH e past been a sort OF byword among reck.
| less jokers. The complaints received at the
| department TO some extent justified these
| JOkers. The department has always been a
large purchaser of seeds for distribution, and i,
is believed has sometimes had imposed upon il
supplies which the seedman would not sell to a
| private customer. After the seeds have been
| distributed by the department the seed man
| knows Ii the seeds prove worthless it is moi
likely ever to be traced back to his establish.
| menL Then again, it is claimed at the depart
| ment that the failure to secure good results is
| often due to the ignorance OF the person who
! plants them, and who does not know how To
| manage them. The most frequent cause of fail
| ure in the case OF flower seeds is that they are
covered too deeply with soil, in which case
| they either rot owing to excess OF water,
| Or want OF air, or the feeble germ is unable IL
| overcome the weight OF soil it has TO move be
| tore reaching the light Still, the seed division
| now makes 1t a rule to send out no seed that IL
| cannot Vouch for. When All American citizen
receives seed hereafter it will come to him
| guaranteed by the administration to terminate
| under proper conditions. OF course, every seed
| of the millions which each Congressman is en-
| titled to is not separately tested and vouched
lor, but samples are taken from every lot OF
| seed received, and If they do not show good
percentage the lot is rejected.
| THE SEED TESTER.
1.-THE tester is very simple thing" said
Major King 70 THE STAR reporter. cit is some
thing which person could easily construct fol
| himself, if he had baking pan and little
wire.' One OF the seed testers, known the
experiment station tester, was i'll operation in
the majors office at the time in charge of lady
| 1t consisted OF shallow tin box or pan abou,
two feet long by fifteen inches in width. Across
the top were laid a number of little brass rods
Between every two rods was suspended pocket
| made OF cotton. A portion OF the cotton
hung below the bottom of the pocket
Of the hs tessr the
capacity of fifty pockets sufficient to test fifty
varieties OF seed at one time. The seed are
placed in the pockets, which are closed by
pushing the rods together. Then glass cover
| is placed over the pan, and it is deposited neal
a window where 1t receives the sunlight. The
| seeds get moisture from the water absorbed by
| the cotton. II the seeds are good, they soon
germinate or show evidences of termination
deposited in the pockets. Her books will show
| also the number of days required in each case
| tor termination, and the percentage OF good
| seeds. At the same time tests are made OF the
same varieties of seed in the soil at the green
| houses under Mr.. Saunders charge. Ii these
tests prove unsatisfactory the seeds from which
tested
| in the department..
More Municipal Elections.
REPUBLICAN GAINS IN CHICAGO-KNIGHTS OF
LABOR VICTORIOUS AT FORT WORTH.