Gilpin observer., 1899-03-23
QUEST FOR COMMERCE
DIR. FAIRCHILD'S MISSION TO
SOUTH AMERICA.
Hunting for Food Plants-Those on
South American Plains VIII lie Gull
tivated Here-If sucee.sfuI Our Food
Supply VIII Be Increased.

DR.. d. G. Fairchild OF the department
OF agriculture mas gone to South
America in search of new food plants.
which will be introduced into the
United States. If these plants can be
successfully cultivated here, a revolu-
t1on will result in the character and
amount of our food supply. According
to Professor N. 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. "to
plants of utilization-the invaluable
commodities that commerce deals in
and which are essential to the we'll be-
ing and comfort of civilization. There
are vast tracts of desert lands in ou.
west where nothing grows, and where,
it is believed, nothing can grow. l ex-
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 pret
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 a
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. 1t serves the noun
tain men as bread food, and very
good food it is, too. 1t is a starchy
stuff and takes the place of our own
grain, corn and buckwheat and is cui-
tivated at high attitudes. This plant
is unknown in this country, but we be-
lieve it 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-
ton of this plant alone will transform
what are now cold, uninhabitable
cheerless and barren stretches OF
land into farms of great productive
ness. l myself grew this plant next to
my house here last summer, but it
ly,t To NJ thr;,
in warm spots.
Besides number OF other South
American food plants which can be
grown in this country, according to the
section, climate and altitude, there are
the drug and fiber plants. The indis-
pensable quinlne and the expensive
ipecac are now imported and grow no.
where within our borders. The Gin
chona bark is carried in British or
German ships mainly from Brazilian
ports to ports in Great Britain or Ger
many, whole it 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 the Philippines. Here /;
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 it has well-nigh
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 great gain and bene-
fit to our people, can all be cultivated
in United States territory.-New York
Journal.