Gilpin observer., 1901-12-26
FARMING MATTERS.
Romances of Agriculture.

= Romances of Agriculture.
Any one still under the delusion that
farming is an occupation giving little
opportunity for mental effort should
read Secretary Wilson's latest report.
There, says the Chicago Inter Ocean,
he will find the outlines of scores Of
real romances Of achievement, with the
world for their scene and the most
patient and acute minds as their ac-
tors.
few years ago a frost, such as liv-
ing men had not known, swept away
the orange groves of Florida. To many
this was calamity without remedy.
They could see nothing to do but to
replace the blasted trees and hope that
such q frost would not soon occur
again. But the scientific experts said:
Let us find or make an orange tree
that will resist frost" Over in Japan
they found the tree, but its fruit was
of little value. So they set to work
to combine this Japanese tree with the
Florida sweet orange. They have pro-
duced the hardest orange tree known,
and are confident that in a few years
they will have fruit both resistant to
frost and of good quality.
Rice has been grown in. Louisiana for
y
to be diminishing and the industry was
dwindling. About three years ago the
Agricultural Department suggested the
substitution of the Japanese rice plant
for that formerly grown. The expert
ment was so successful that the pro-
duction this year exceeded that of 1899
by 100000 pounds, and imports of
rice have fallen from 154, 100000 to
,13,OO0,OOO pounds. About $2O,0OO,OOO
new. capital has been invested in the
gulf coast rice industry.
Coffee has long been the small Porto
Rican farmers chief money crop.
Though little known in this country,
Porto Rican coffee is in steady demand
at high prices in Europe. Soon after
Porto Rico became American our ex-
perts began studying coffee culture.
They speedily found that the Porto
Ricans We're shading their coffee plants
too much-that the shade was not
necessary in itself and that it's chief
value was in the effect on the soil of
the roots of the leguminous trees which
supplied it. Better methods have been
suggested which are expected to double
or treble Porto Rico's coffee crop.
The cold and dry winters of the
northern great plains states have fire.
quently killed the grass and so cur
tailed pasturage that heavy loss of live
stock resulted. In Russia the Agricul-
tural Department has found a grass
and In Turkestan an alfalfa which
stand cold and drouth better than any
previously known here. The former
has proved perfectly hardy clear up in
North Dakota and assures the farmers
there both pasturage and hay.
Not long ago an insect known as the
San Jose scale was found to be num-
erous and destructive in the California
orchards. Several European countries
took alarm and adopted measures
which threatened greatly to curtail our
foreign fruit trade. Reasoning from
such past experience as that of the rab.
bit and the thistle in Australia, it was
seen that the reason this scale was so,
destructive was that it had reached a
country where its natural enemies did
not exist to keep it in check.
,1Then a. worldwide search for this in
sect's home and natural enemy began.
Both were found in North China. There
the scale infested all sorts of fruit
trees, but did no extensive damage be-
cause beetle kept its numbers within
bounds. So this beetle, has been brought
across The Pacific and set to work upon
its natural prey: and California fruit
growers ,arenfe6ling much more cheer
full than they felt ,afew years ago.