Daily camera., 1899-05-04
FO6 FOOD PLANTS.
Government Offic ais Are Hunting
In South America
Those That Are Found In That Co0D~
try VIII he Cultivated IN fhs
United state>-DruG aa& Fib>e
Plants Also sought

Dr.. d. G. Fairchild. of the depart
ment of agriculture, has gone to South
America in search of new food plants.
which will be introduced into tho
United States. If these plants can be
successfully cultivated here a revolu-
tion Will result in the character and
amount of our food supply. According
to Prof. y. l.. Britton, of Columbia, DR..
Fairchild will make a careful study of
South American plants of all kinds,
such as can be grown in this country.
Il refer. of course" he said ito plants
OF utilization-the invaluable commodi-
ties that commerce deals in and which
are essential 10 the well being and COM
fort of civilization. There are vast
tracts of desert lands in our west where
rUihing grows, and where. il is be-
lieScd. nothing can grow. expect that
this state of affairs will soon be
changed and that before many years
these desert lands-hundreds of thou
sands Of square miles of waste-will he
made 10 blossom like fertile garden
There il vast desert in Chilli, simi-
lar 10 the deserts in this country, where
various plants of great use 10 civiliLa-
ton flourish. We believe that the,s.
plants can be transplanted 10 our des-
ert here, where the same conditions
obtain pretty much AS in the Gillian
desert of Atacama. and thes-- immens-.
stretches of unproductive land will h.
converted into tracts of great fertility.
From the isthmus down to Patagonia
a.. n,-t.. .s Al ~
value None OF these is produced now
within the territory of the United
States, but they can be.
There is food plant known ~
quiBoa. This grows high on the Andes
and produces great quantity Of small
black seeds which the natives grind
into me al. l, serves the mountain men
~ bread food, and a very good food il
is. TOO. l, is a starchy stuff and takes
the place OF our own grain. corn and
buckwheat. /, is Ion, plant like buck
whea, and is cultivated at high alti-
tudes. This plant is unknown in this
country. hut we believe ii can be grown
everywhere in the high attitudes in this
country, where no other kind of food
plant viii flourish, and also in Alas ks.
The introduction OF this plant alone
will transform what are ngw cold. un-
inhnbi,able, cheerless and barren
stretches Of land into farms of great
produc,ivene~~. myself grew this
plant mex, to my house here last sum-
mer. but it didn't ripen TO ses-da. II
does not thrive in warm spcis.
besides a number of other South
American food plants which can be
grown in this country. according TO tho
section. climate and altitude, there are
the drug and fiber p!anta. The iudis-
pcnsablc quinine and the expensive ipe-
cac are now imported and grow no
where within our borders. The Gin
chona bark is carried in British or Ger
man ships mainly from Brazilian ports
TO ports in Great Britain or Germany.
where it is ground into quinine pow
der and then exported to this country.
Now the trees from which quininc Is
extracted can be cultivated properly in
Porto Rico, Cuba and doubtless in the
Philippines. Here is trade worth nm
told millions that can be. and undoub,-
edly will he. placed right within our
own borders. So with ipccac. which is
expensive because the fierce compc-
'ition for II has well nigh exhausted the
roots. Balsam OF copaibal tonca beam.
Peruvian balsam- thcsc and manN 9th
cr drug plants. yielding a tremendous
revenue to our merchants and n great
gain and benefit 10 cur people. all can
be cultivated In United States terri
tory N. \. Journal.