The Jersey City news. (Jersey City [N.J.]) 1889-1906, 1896-11-19
CROPS AND FERTILIZERS
Secretary Morton's Report Of
the Years Work Of the
Agrieulturits De-
partment.

WASHINGTON, Nov. 10, 1S96.-The first
of the Cabinet officers annual reports to
reach the public will doubtless be that of
the Secretary of Agriculture which will
be published in a few days. Secretary
Morton will review the work of the de
partment in the pastS four years and
show briefly what has been accomplish
ed. He will devote considerable space
to the bulletins issued by the division of
foreign markets (which have been a
prominent feature of the department S
work the past two years. 1t is his be-
lief that study of the markets, not only
of the range of prices but of the char
acter and extent of the demands of the
various countries upon the productions
of the United States is as, necessary
to the prosperity and success Of the
farmer as to that of the merchant. And
recognizing the fact that the farmer
compared to the merchant has practically
no opportunity to make this study for
himself Secretary Morton believes that the
government should do it for him. The es-
tablishment of this division is believed
by the Secretary to be probably the moSs
important Of the extensions of the work
of the department under his admInistra-
tion. Two other lines of study or inves-
tigation inaugurated by him will be dis
CuSSGu--uilOSS lO4 tLG CoilSlllUltOil DI cDtkS
and nutritiVe value of foods. The former,
under Prof. Whitney has been sigually
successful and has been the means of
awakening agricultural colleges all over
the land to the essential Importance of
the study.
This has caused some embarrassment
to Professor Whitney in the pursuit OF his
Investigations. for no sooner does stu
dent of the SOIL laboring with him In
the department., fit himself for doing
good work, than he is drawn off TO some
college as member of the faculty on
a salary averaging at least twice what
the government pays.
The value OF this study to the farmer
can readily be seen by moments re-
Election. The prices for agricultural pro-
ducts have reached such a low level that
the farmer of the United States cannot
afford to expend a cent unnecessarily in
the production of his crops. II he can
stance or use one that win increase the
yield of his field, it may mean the differ
ence between success and failure. If his
land is better adapted to produce one
kind of crop than another a knowledge
Of that fact may keep him from bank
ruptcy. Just this sort of knowledge, the
to day. and it is being disseminated
through the bulletins of the department.
In pursuing. this study Prof. Whitney
has practically applied electricity, and
developed an ingenious instrument which
will tell the farmer what per cent of
moisture there is in the soils ON his land
thereby enabling him to SOW the seed
OF the particular crop best suited to that
condition This instrument is especially
valuable in irrigated districts, where the
amount of moisture can be accurat tely
regulated by the flow of water in the
comparatively inexpensive and may be
established on any farm. A series OF
experiments, covering the entire country
is being made to determine the per cent
of moisture that viii bring the best re-
suits in all crops.