Holbrook argus., 1901-01-05
FOR FOOD PLANTS. '
Government Officials. Are Hunting
 in South America.
Those That Are Found in That Coun- try VIII Be Cultivated in the United States-Drug and Fiber
 Plants Also Sought.

Dr. D. G. Fairchild, of the depart= nent of agriculture, has 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- ton will result in the character and amount of our food supply. According to Prof. Y. L. Britton, of of.Columbia, Dr. Fairchild will make a careful study of South American plants of all kinds such as can be grown in this country.
 -'I refer, of course,' he saide ito plants, of futilization-the invaluable corimodi- ties that commerce deals in and which are essential to the well being and com fort of civilization. There are vast tracts of desert lands in our west where nothing grows, aud where, it is be- lieved, nothing can grow. Iexpect that this state of affairs will soon be changed and that before many yeaIE these desert lands-hundreds of thou sands of square miles of waste-will be made to blossom, like a fertile garden
 There is vast desert in Chilli, simi- lar to the deserts;in this country, where various plants of great use to civiliza- ton flourish. We believe that these. plants can be transplanted to our des- ert heTe, where the same conditions obtain pretty much as in the Gillian 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 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 a food plant known as, quinoa. This grows high on t.e Andes and produces great quantity of small black seeds which the nat;ves grind into meal. It serves the. mountain men as bread food, and very good food it is. too. It is a starchy stuff and takes the place of our oyvn grain, corn and buckwheat. It is q low plant like buck wheat and is cultivated at high alti- tudes. This plant is unknown i1 this country, but we pelieve-it can be grown everywhere in the high attitudes in this country, where no other kind of food plant will flourish, and also in Alaska. The introduction of this plant alone will transform what are now cold. un- inhabitable, cheerless and barren stretches of land into farms of great productiveness. I myself grew this plant next to my house here last sum- mer, but it didn't ripen to seeds. Ii does not thrive in warm spots.
 2-'BesiGes a number of other South American food plants which can be grown in tiiis country, according to the section, climate and altitude, there are the drug and fiber plants. The indis. pensable quinine and the expensive ipe, uac are now imported and grow no where within our borders. The cin- ehona bark is carried in British or Ger man ships mainly from Brazilian ports to ports in Great Britain or Germany where il is ground into quiEine pow ier and then exported to this country Now, the trees from which quinine is extracted can be cultivated properly ir Porto Rico, Cuba and doubtless in tht Philippines. Here is a trade worth un told millions that can be, and undoubt edly will be, placed right within oul own borders. So with ipecac, which i. expensive because the, fierce compe tition for it has well nigh exhausted tht roots Balzam of copaibav tonca beans Peruvian balsam-these and many eth CT drug plants. yielding a tremendou. revenue 10 our merchants and grea gain and benefit to our people, all cal be cultivated in United States terri tory.'-N. I. Journal.