The Indianapolis journal. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1867-1904, 1900-05-17
ADDRESSED BY WILSON
SOUTHERN INDUSTRIAL CONGRESS-
HEARS ABOUT AGRICULTURE.
The Secretary Tells 1t What His De-
partment Is DOing-Other Matters
Before the Convention.

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn, May 1.-THE
Southern industrial convention in a body
devoted the forenoon to-day to an inspec-
ton of Chattanooga textile, wood, iron and
clay manufactures. The convention
assembled at 3 o'clock, and the Hon. Cyrus
Kehr, of Knoxville, delivered an address,
making suggestions for improvement on
educational systems in the South.
r. v. Taylor, of Mobile, Ala, read a pa
per on '"The Export Trade of the South"
He said: 1.-THE first shipment of Alabama
iron ever made to Europe was forwarded
via the port of Mobile in 1893. from the city
of Birmingham and since that time Mobile
has grown to be the largest iron exporting
center in the United States and the third
in the world"
DR.. w. p. Wilson, of the Philadelphia
Museum, addressed the convention on the
Aim and Worth of the Museum" The ad-
dress was received with close attention by
the convention, and at the conclusion the
convention adopted a resolution offered by
Secretary Thompson indorsing the work,
aims and methods of the musuem.
At the night session the convention lis
tened to an address by the secretary of ag
riculture, Mr.. Wilson, who discussed the
work of his department in connection with
the expanding industries of the South.
Among other things he said: 1.-The inspec-
ton of live stock and its products is now
being carried on at 14S abattoirs in forty
five States. Inspection has been established
at one abattoir where horses are slaugh-
tered and the flesh prepared for exporta-
ton. The regular inspection Of horses ex-
ported to foreign countries has been estab-
lished, and this has been extended to the
examination of horses which are imported
from foreign countries into the United
States
Experiments with grasses and forage
plants have been vigorously prosecuted
during the past three years. These ex-
periments are necessary in order that
ranchers and farmers may be informed on
the kind of grasses suitable for their re-
spective districts. After these preliminary
facts are determined, promising varieties
can be adopted without further serious ex-
penditure of time and money. Many of
the vast cattle ranches of the West have
been practically destroyed by overstockng
and mismanagement, and Ii has become a
serious question as to what are the best
grasses with which to reseed them.
IAN investigation of the trees of arid
regions in foreign countries has been begun
to determine such species as will be suit
able for the plains and arid regions of the
United States. Explorers of the depart
ment throughout the world are seeking for
such species of trees as may be suitable for
the several localities of the United States.
The activities of the Division of Forestry
have been transferred from the office to
the forests. Practical forestry on a large
scale has been introduced among lumber
men, a beginning of effective cooperation
with tree planters over a considerable por-
ton of the country has been made. and ex-
perts in numbering. tree planting. ETC., have
been brought into the division. Over two
million acres of land in thirty-four States
have been offered to the forestry for expert
mentation, and work is being done on the
public reserves of the United States.
Our new relations to our island posses
sions bring up new problems regarding
tropical agriculture. Careful inquiry will
be made into profitable agriculture in these
islands so that the people may be instructed
regarding the cultivation of the most pro-
fitable crops, such as vanilla, coffee, india
rubber, etc., SO that the people of those
islands may be taught the sciences that re-
late to the productions most profitable to
them and the United States may purchase
from those people to as great an extent as
possible the $500, 100000 worth OF tropical
products annually imported.
"A thorough reOrgantZat ton of the Di-
vision of Statistics, the stopping of the pre-
mature publication of the figures regarding
monthly crop reports, the extension and
Improvement of our resources of informa-
ton regarding the staple crops, and the
transmission of the reports of State Stats
teal agents by telegraph, have made the
work of the Division of Statistics much
more valuable to the producers of the State
than heretofore.
"Under the present administration the
work of the Office of experiment stations
has more than doubled. This is due in part
to the development of old enterprises and
| in part to the establishment of new ones.
The keynote of the present policy Is CO.
operation. Through the department and
the experiment station thousands of practi-
cal experiments are now annually carried
| on In cooperation with farmers in all Sec
| tions of the Union"