The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-03-22
CAPTIvATED ny BILTMORE.
Secretary Morton Spends Week
with George Vanderbilt.
From the New York Sun.

rom the New OIk sun.
Washington, March 14-Secretary of
Agriculture Morton returned this morn
ing from Asheville, N. c., where he has
been spending a week or so investigating
Biltmore. the famous estate of George
Vanderbilt, and he told his colleagues at
the cabinet meeting to-day that there is
nothing in the world, owned by sovereign
or subject that will compare with it. eth
er as a residence or as an object lesson
in the agricultural arts.
1t is a grand idea" said Mr.. Morton
to-day, that young Mr.. Vanderbilt is try
ing to carry out. 1t is unique, and none
but a man of his enormous wealth could
funds or the good of their people at heart
sufficient to conceive and carry out what
Mr.. Vanderbilt has successfully demon
strated. l do not know how much money
he has spent there, nor how much more
he intends to invest, but it is one of the
grandest undertakings that individual en-
stand that it is the owners intention to
leave ii as legacy to the public when
he can no longer enjoy it himself.
There are 5000 acres in the estate, and
every inch of ii may be said to he under
scientific cultivation, embracing every
branch of the vegetable kingdom. Com
bined with it he has the most perfect sys-
TEN of roadways l have ever seen, and
you can drive 100 miles over macadamized
pavement without going off his estate AS
an exhibition OF landscape gardening it
is without an equal. Frederick Law Ohm
sted has had charge of this branch of the
work and the late Richard NJ Hunt was
the architect of all the buildings which
for their several uses, surpass any that
exist on the earth. There are no palaces
in Europe that can equal Mr.. Vanderbilts
for elegance, comfort and convenience,
and he is gathering there a collection of
works of art that would make 1t famous
If il had no other attraction. His stables
his barns, his diaries, his propagating
houses, his memories, and other features
of his establishment are all on the same
4 10 10 hos do fol
nish the highest possible example of the
science of food culture in every one
of its branches. He has employed the best
men he can find to take charge of his ex-
periments and pays them salaries that are
commensurate with their services. There
are Germans and Frenchmen and Italians
and Englishmen, as well as Americans
employed. The foreigners are usually men
of high professional regulations, who are
attached to universities in the old world
| and spend their vacations, three four or
/ six months, on Mr.. Nanderbnts estate
! looking after their respective depart
ments. While the work has not vet been
1 carried far enough to show the results.
/ the possibilities of usefulness offered by
/ Mr.. Nanderbilts enterprise are unlimited
| Il consider his work there just as i'm
/ portant to the agricultural interests of
this country as the department of agri-
/ culture at Washington. He employs more
4 men than ! have under my charge, and
+ l think he is spending more money every
/ year than congress appropriates for this
department, although / do not know his
/ figures He has nearly a thousand names
on his pay roll and we have about 700
! His men are promoted for efficiency. ac-
| cording to the most practical civil SER
| vice rules. If a man who is employed at
! a dollar a day to shovel dirt shows that
/ he is capable of something better his
1 work and his wages are both advanced
/ and the same rule applies to everybody on
/ the estate.
/ IF there were nothing else to be ac-
I complished, Mr. Vanderbilt is at least.
( building up an educational institution thai
{ will furnish scientific farmers and teach
4 ers for the instruction of the rest of
| mankind, and ! feel like thanking old
| Commodore Vanderbilt for having given
I US a grandson who has the brains and
/ the beneVolence to devote his wealth TO
| afford the public such valuable object les
/ sons in art, architecture, agriculture, for
4 estry viticulture, dairyng, road making
! and other useful sciences.
| THE people down there talk about the
/ enormous amount of money that Mr.
| Vanderbilt is investing to crafty his taste
| and pride, to provide luXuries for his an
/ petite and magnificent displays to hatter
1 his vanity, but the poor creatures do not
| comprehend the first letter in the alpha
/ bet of his ambition. Their vision is not
| broad enough. their Intelligence is not
| sufficient to grasp a single fragment of
! the idea he is developing, and while they
! imagine that il is all due to sefshness.
/ he is great benefactor working for them
/ They talk about the land being worn out
! down there in North Carolina. It's the
/ people The land is all right. If brains
| and energy We're applied to its cultlva-
1880