Evening times-Republican. [volume] (Marshalltown, Iowa) 1890-1923, 1900-05-18

IL View to teaching the people over there
the value of that article OF food, and
also to ASCERTAIN the facts regarding
practical methods OF shipment.
Tho United States imports a great
many things that can very well be pro-
duced inside our own limits. The di-I
vision Of botany Is studying these
things. For example. our imports Of
chicory in 1896 had a value Of $225, 229
Our imports for the years 1898 and 1899
had a value of sl4S77 and s13.470 re-
spectively. AS thus indicated. the chic
DRY consumed in the UNIFIED States Is
now produced almost exclusively by
our own farmers. This is a striking IL
lustration of the best American farming
methods as applied to a foreign agricul-
tural industry. Several other crops of
foreign countries are now under invests
CATION. Poisonous plants are being stud.
led and bulletins are being pre-
pared and widely distributed regarding
the plants that are poisonous to man
and beast.
Our new relations to our island pos.
sessions bring up new problems regard
ing tropical agriculture. Careful in-i
culture in these islandstso that the peo-l
pie may be instructed regarding the
cultivation of the most profitable crops
such as vanilla, coffee, india rubber, ETC.,
SO that the people of those islands may
be taught the sciences that relate to the
productions most profitable to them and
the United States may purchase from
those people to as great an extent as
n
al products annually imported.
The division of chemistry has been
In the immediate charge OF the sugar
beet Investigations that have been con-
Quoted during the last three years. SUI.
gar beet seed Of the best quality has
been imported from foreign countries.
|distributed in the mosS promising local-
tiles and grown under identical condi-.
tions. the only variations being those of
soil and climate. The beets thus grown
have been analysed and their saccha-
rine qualities ascertained. We pay in
the neighborhood OF s100,000.000 annual
| ly for sugar. Our experimentation So
far has demonstrated that it is entire
~ practicable to make at home all the
sugar consumed in the United States.
Investigations have been made by
the chemical division into meats of all
descriptions. Hundreds OF samples
have been purchased in the open mar
kets or secured from dealers and sub
jected to examinations by uniform
methods. The objects in view have
been to determine the food value of the
samples, and the detection of any dele
l5terious substances which may have
been used in preserving the meats. The
results of the Investigations have
shown that as a rule preserved Ameri-
can meats are practically free from
personalities of an injurious charac-
ter A study ofthe characteristics OF
horse flesh is being prosecuted. The
meat has not been offered in the
American market. as far as we can
ascertain. The division finds 1t entirely
practicable. by means OF chemical and
microscopical methods, to detect horse
meat wherever used in considerable
quantities
An investigation is being made into
the gluten contents of wheat. Where
wheat is grown perpetually on the
same soil without rotation With other
crops the plant food is reduced. partic-
ularly the heterogeneous element. result
ing not ouly in smaller Yields of wheat
! but in wheat deficient in nitrogen.
lWheats grown on the Pacific coast a
few years ago were used exclusively by
macaroni makers. 1t has been ascer-
tained that the depreciation in the glu-
Item contents of these wheats has ren-
dered them undesirable for that pur-
pose Epon this hint the department has
been Importing wheats high in gluten
from foreign countries, in order that
manufacturer of macaroni might be
Iencouragedw within the United States.
Under the present administration
4 the work Of the office OF experiment
stations has more than doubled. This
is due in part 10 the development of old
enterprises and in part to the establish
ment of new ones. The Keynote of the
.lSpresent policy is cooperation. Thru
1.-The department. and the experiment
s|Istations thousands of practical expert
i ments are now annually carried on IL
4 CO. operation with farmers in all sec.
tons OF the union.
"A study is being made of the irriga.
i BILE regions west Of the Missouri and II
other parts Of the United States. Th,
A collation. and publication Of informa
tion3regarding the laws and institution!
H of irrigated regions in their relation L
agriculture forms one line of thi.
4 work and the actual determination o
1.-THE volume of water used by practica
@IAirrigators on different crops and soil
a forms another. Both Investigations ar,
being Systematically pushed The worl
has already been carried on in fifteel
states and territories, largely in co
operation with the agricultural expert
II ment stations and state Irrigation engi
: naars In This enterprise the derar.
S ment is working along lines which ar
new in this country, and it is believe,
: that an organization has been per
q fected which is thoroughly efficient s.
. that shortly there will be developed
trained force of experts whose service