The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1895-11-14
L(OncInHed.-

1t was in the year 1865 that Prof
Johnson established the station a
New Haven, Conn, and the frs
founded in this country. More sta
tions were being organized in othe
parts Of the land, when, five year
ago, that wise and far seeing measur,
the Hatch Act, was passed, where
by the Congress Of the United State.
enacted that each State in the UniOI
should have an experiment station To-
the investigation Of problems and the
distribution of knowledge relating &c
its own particular needs. And, today,
gentlemen, we have in this country,
including branch places, not fewer
than sixty experiment stations.
The question may be asked what
are the stations doing? In the first
place, each station i studying the
problems and furnishing the infOrma-
ton required by the farmers Of its
State. Feed stuff and fertilizers are
sent TO the laboratory of the station
and a statement of this composition
and values is returned. The station
is thus the bureau of agricultural in
curry Of the State, furnishing the spe-
cial knowledge which the individual
farmer il unable 10 procure for him
self. Again, the stations, as we have
said, are busy with new problems
They are studying breeds of stock
with respect to their fitness for given
climates and particular purposes.
The great questions are what breeds
yield the greatest value in milk
and meat for given weight of
food, aud what are the conditions
of management under which the
greatest results are obtained ?
With milk, for example, it has been
found that the largest volume does
not necessarily mean the greatest
amount of actual human food. Some
milks contain five pounds of butter to
the hundred, and others only two
pounds. These are vital facts. Also
the methods of extracting the butter
from milk have been revolutiOniZed,
and today the butter can not only be
obtained in half an hour after the milk
has left the COW, but 20 per cent.
more is recovered than by the older
methods.
One other great work is the COM
batting of animal and plant diseases
that cause losses in our herds and
crops which il is difficult TO over
estimate. The losses from insect raw
ages annually in the United States are
put at $3.50, 100000. Prof. COmstOck
estimated the loss to the cotton States
from the cotton aletia, in the year
1879, was $50, 900 600. And what is the
total sum expended upon our stations
in comparison with the loss caused by
one insect eating upon a single crop?
And what are the stations doing for
us in Louisiana? From Baton Rouge
we learn that losses amongst live
stock are being greatly reduced by the
veterinarians skill.
Again, the cotton caterpillar is no
more feared as formerly, because its
ravages can be checked. The orange
orchards are being ridden of the scale
insect by the hand of the entOmOlO
gist.
At Calhoun experimentation is con
Quoted, embracing grasses, forage,
grain and cotton; and live stock eX-
periments are carried on with oxen,
sheep, hogs, and even poultry. The
hill farmers have had demonstrated
for them the fertilizers most suitable
to their lands. They have also learned
the value of mixed farming instead of
trusting wholly in one or two crops.
Moreover, special attention has been
given to tobacco, and the endeavOrs
which have been made with the "yel-
low wrapper" are already a pro-
nOunced success. As a direct out
growth of this work we learn that a
company has been organized at Cal
hOun with a capital of $4,000 for the
manufacture of plug aud smoking
tobacco. And the sugar station at
Audubon Park has already spoken for
itself. Eight years ago, and before
the station was opened, the yield of
cane per acre was twenty tons, and
that WAS good average. Today, from
thirty to forty tons per acre are read
lily grown. Formerly, l25 pounds per
ton OF cane was considered an excel
lent result of the sugar house. To-Day
the planter requires To know why If
less than 200 pounds of sugar per ton
are made. And the capacity of the
houses has developed from 200 TO 800
tons of cane per day, TO 600 tons even
up to 1000 tons per day. Also the
most careful. experiments are being
made in order to demonstrate the fer
tiliZers which give the best returns in
weight of cane and sugar per acre. 1t
may, with a very proper confidence,
De said that in no State of the Union
are experimentation and the station
rendering more palpable and abid-
ing good than in the State of LOui-
siana.
Mr.. President, we have, so far, con-
sluered the origin, purpose and Work
OF the experiment stations of the indi-
vldual States. We may now allude to
our great National Experiment Sta
ton, the United States Department of
agriculture and, sir, the person who
does not regard that department of
the Government as the country's eX-
pertinent station has, in so much,
tailed to comprehend its purpose and
possibilities. Like that of the State
station, its primary function is in
quiry, and chief mode of inquiry is
experimentation. In the first place,
all the State stations centre in the
department of Agriculture, and from
That centre the results of each are dis
sem1nated for the benefit of the whole.
The department is also the National
bureau of Agricultural information,
furnishing through its statistical di-
vision all data upon production, dis