Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1891-02-14

drained OF, its bed being turned into first
rate farming land. There was an area con-
cerned in this scheme of irrigation as great a.
that of Connecticut and Rhode Island COM
bined.
YKxDINa ANIMALS.
Ono most important thing taught to the
farmer by the experts at the stations il how to
feed his animals for certain desired results,
such as milk, lean or fat. Corn makes fat,
while peas produce lean. Fat beef 10 in de-
mand, but people want more lean pork than
they are able to get in the market. This latter
fact Is due to the circumstance that corn 10
plentiful and that there is no way in which it can
be got to market so profitably as in the shape
OF the hogs which have been fed upon it. The
swine grower il practically a manufacturer.
Feeding stuffs are his raw material, the animal
his machine and the meat his product Cot
tonseed oil and other substitutes have 80 far
taken the place Of lard that pork fat is not
needed to any great extent by the consumer.
Pork fat. used for food, serves to keep the body
warm and to yield muscular energy. It is q
fuel, and 30 great is the excess Of fuel material
in the national dietary that the latter IL in q
are finding decrease in the demand for fat
meat and large amounts of fat are rejected by
the customers in the butchers shops, in the
shape Of trimmings. and by consumers Of meat
after it is cooked, as may be noted by any one
who observes the plates removed from the
family table. The moral Of this is that the
American pork producer should alter his
methods Of feeding by utilizing beans, peas,
skim milk, alfalfa, bran, &C., instead Of corn.
TESTING SEEDS.
Another thing in which the experimenters
have interested themselves is the testing of
seeds, which, although it is not generally re-
allied, are always very apt to be more or less
impure. In other words, the most valuable
and expensive kind Of seed may have mingled
hDr
In 148 samples Of seeds Of grasses investigated
at the Delaware station at one time twenty-six
different species Of weeds were found and
among them the terror Of the farmer, known as
the Canada thistle. Thus the unsuspecting
agriculturist may deliberately SOW upon his
stroy his crops. The growing Of flowers by
improved methods and the selection of varie-
ties has engaged much earnest effort also. At
the Massachusetts, station hot houses were built
out which was best. OF course, the glass had
to be the same in all, but the building other
wise might be Of brick, stone, or what not. 10
solve the problem one hot house was con-
structed in sections. the first section of brick,
the second Of stone, the third with two walls Of
brick, having an air space between, the fourth
with double wall Of wood with paper lining,
and SO on. The results showed that the double
wall of wood with the paper between was the
cheapest and warmest. In a similar way it was
discovered that hot water was better than steam
for the purpose Of heating green house.
PLANTS AND THEIR UsEs.
Some Of the stations are much interested in
the trying of new varieties of plants to find out
what they are good for. That of Maryland had
planted out last summer 100 different varieties
Of potatoes, sprouting alongside Of one another.
In the tomato line the stock was even more
varied. The Maryland station maintains cor
respondence with the growers Of vegetables
who make point Of originating varieties, and
whatever is sent in in the way Of fresh ones is
experimental with. 1t is worth mentioning
incidentally thet peach plants are being inn
the fruit they produce will prove more hardy
and more capable Of resisting that most obsti-
nate Of all fungus plant diseases, the "yellows."
The investigation of the fungus diseases of
plants is an important part Of the work Of the
stations, and, now that bacteria have come to
be recognized quite recently as producers of
vegetable complaints, their activity in this line
of pathological investigation will be much ex-
tended.
NATURE OF THE SOIL.
One very curious thing which agricult ural
science has lately discovered relates to the
natural formation of soil. When undisturbed,
the surface earth is made up in the shape of
little capillary tubes, by which the moisture is
conveyed to the surface of the ground, so that
it is evaporated. But if the dry surface is
broken up, the tubes are destroyed and the wa
ter remains below to feed the plants. Thus it
happens that in a very dry spell the farmer
who breaks up his land by cultivation from
time to time though no rain falls, gets far
larger crop than his neighbor, who does not
have the wisdom to pursue q like measure.
You can test the thing for yourself very easily.
Take dry clod Of earth and dip a portion Of
it into water. Almost Immediately, you will
observe, the moisture renders the whole mass
wet. But it will take some time for water
thrown upon layer Of dry earth dust to make