Rocky Ford enterprise., 1899-03-23
QUEST FOR COMMERCE
DIR. FAIRCHlLD'S MISSION TO
SOUTH AMERICA.
Hunting for Food Plants-Those Oh
South American Plains Will He Gull
tivated Here-If succe.sful Our Food
Supply VIII Ee Increased.

DR.. D. G. Fairchild OF the department
America in search OF new food plants.
which will be introduced into the
United States. II these plants can be
successfully cultivated here, a reVolu-
tion will result in the character and
amount of our food supply. According
to Professor n. l.. Brltton of Columbia.
DR.. Fairchild will make careful study
OF South American plants OF all kinds
such as can be grown in this country.
Il refer, of course" he said, TO
plants OF utilizatior-the invaluable
commodities that commerce deals in
and which are essential to the well be-
ing and comfort OF civilization. There
are vast tracts of desert lands in our
west where nothing grows, and where.
it is believed. nothing can grow. en-
pect that this state of affairs will soon
be changed, and that before many
years these desert lands-hundreds OF
thousands of square miles of waste
will be made to blossom like fertile
garden.
There is a vast desert in Chill, sim
liar to the deserts in this country,
where various plants of great use to
civilization flourish. We believe that
these plants can be transplanted here.
where the same conditions obtain pref
ty much as in the Chilian desert of
Atacama, and these immense stretches
of unproductive land will be converted
into tracts of great fertility. From the
isthmus down to Patagonia there is II
variety of plants of immense value.
None OF these is produced now within
the territory OF the United States, but
they can be-.
There is. food plant known as
quinoa. This grows high on the An
des and produces great quantity OF
small black seeds which the natives
grind into meal. It serves the noun
tain men as bread food, and very
good food it is. too. 1t is starchy
stun and takes the place OF our own
grain, corn and buckwheat and Is cul-
tivated at high attitudes. This plant
is unknown in this country, but we be.
lieve 1t can be grown everywhere In
the high attitudes In this country,
where no other food plant will flour.
ish, and also in Alaska. The introduc-
tion Of this plant alone will transform
what are now cold. uninhabitable,
cheerless and barren stretches oil
land into farms OF great productive
ness. myself grew this plant next tc
my house here last summer, but II
didn't sipen to seeds. It does not thrive
IN warm spots.
Besides a number OF other South
American food plants which can bs
grown In this country. according to the
section, climate and altitude. there are
the drug and fiber plants. The indis.
pensable quinine and the expensive
ipecac are now imported and grow no.
where within our borders. The cin-
chona bark Is carried In British or
German ships mainly from Brazilian
ports to ports in Great Britain or Ger
many. wnete 1t is ground into qui-
nine powde: and then exported to this
country. Now, the trees from which
Quinine is extracted can be cultivated
properly In Porto Rico. Cuba and
doubtless In tho Philippines. Here Ii
a trade worth untold millions that car
be. and undoubtedly will be. placed
within our own borders. So with ipe.
cac, which is expensive because the
fierce competition for 1t has well-nigt
exhausted its roots. Balsam OF co.
paiba, tonca beans. Perubian balsam-
these and many other drug plants
yielding a tremendous revenue to our
merchants and a great gain and bene-
fit to our people, can all be cultivated
in United States territory.-New York