The Montgomery advertiser., 1901-12-29
WORLD IN ITSELF
THIS COUNTRY MAY SOON BE AGRICULTURALLY INDIE
 PENDENT.
Foreign Products Thrive-Egyptian Cotton and Dates, Tropical Fruits and Hops and Barley Almost
 Equal to the Imported.

| Washington Special to Baltimore Sun. | Secretary of Agriculture James Wilson | believes that the day is not far distant when the United States, from an agri- | cultural point of view, will be absolutely independent of every other nation on earth.
 He believes that developments in this line in the near future will prove that the soil of this country Is adapted to the use of every agricultural product which the United States is now forced - purchase abroad. In speaking to cor respondent of The Sun today he said: 1t is gradually being found that this country can produce articles which we must now buy from foreign countries. Take, for instance, Egyptian cotton. The Departments work with this commodity | recently has produced very encourasins results, and 1t is believed that 1t can pc successfully grown in this country. This Is a cotton of the finest fiber and grade, which we have been importing in bulk for many years But as early as ies1 the Department imported and distributed seed of some of the choice Egyptian sorts, although, owing to the lack or money the work of cultivation was aban- doned. Recently, however, consioeraoie seed has been imported and the ouuook for this particular grade or cotton IS en- couragjng.
 Tropical Transplantations.
 "The United States pays out millions of dollars annually for tropical products which we ought to grow and which we can grow without interfering In any way with well-established industries. Coffee. rubber, bananas, cacao and many other tropical crops not hitherto grown by us can be produced, and attention has been | turned to the best methods-of succeed ing with such crops. The tmprovement' | in the coffee industry of Porto RICO fur- nfstr san example of what can be accom- plished toward making us independent of the tropical countries from an agri- | cultural consuming point Of view. Among | the agricultural imports Of the Unlted States coffee is second only to sugar; our | annual importations averaging NO0OO,UVo and only a-small fraction of per cent or this quantity comes from our tropical islands. The most important industry m | Porto Rico is the raising of coffee for | European markets. Hence 1t mas re- ceived the early attention of the ofncials l of this Department in their investiga- | tions of tropical agriculture: l Rational moderation in the use or shade upon plantations in the island and the raising of seedlings in nurseries ana | other practical improvements or culture would double or treble Porto Rico's pro- l duction of coffee and with an increase or acreage in view the island could be made to produce more than half of the cofree consumed in the United States.
 Growing Teas.
 '"The production of several kinds of tea
 in the United States Is now assured, continued the Secretary, and in addition to this it is encouraging to note that ex-
 perts who have examined the tea pro- l duced here pronounce 1t equal ln naVor and aroma to the best imported . leaves, yes
 The profit in the crop raised last year averages from $30 to $40 an acre. During the last year large tea gardens nave peen | conducted near Summerville S. C.. where the soil appears to be espeeiaESS ESo n,,nds
 of high-grade tea was produced ana ready market was found for all of 1t. machine for the manufacture or green | lea was produced and placed in operation in Summerville. "CapitaT is always timid of investments in new enterprises of this kind, and there is still much to be done to demonstrate
 the possibilities of the work Tn Ias,, oIne1 is an important one, but pr. Charles ;.
 Sheppard, who has had the tea-ralsihe
 industry in hand. Is training rev young men in the technlque or the "orA' Japanese Rice.
 q have recently called attention to the
 fact that the introduction or Japanese | vice resulted in an increased production
 amounting to $1.00O,0O0 of this commooity
 in Louisiana and furthermore thaS Ine
 impetus given to the work In that StaItt | and Texas led to the investment or no' | less than S20 000,000 in the industry. II
 19AO about S,000,O ,O0O pounds more rice was
 produced than in 1898, and during Ln'
 last year 65. 100000 pounds more were pro. |
 With the rapid increase in our own pro
 duction the importation of rice from TOT
 eign countries Is falling off as shown ny
 the fact that in three years the lmportts tS | have decreased from lo4,VVV'vVV pouhoS @'
 7a.DO0, 900 pounds.
 Production of Macaroni.
 .grhIs country" said Mir Wilson, i'm
 norts over 16,OOOO 900 pounds, or nearf!
 $500 900 worth, of macaront every year
 This product is made from speclal clas'
 of wheats which until receney l., neSSi tNi. country. Tho Department recently se
 cured a quantity of the wheats and II
 has been found that they grow III a Wlut
 extent of territory in the the Mes' yves vesr, aT,
 they yielded one-third to one-halt more per acre than any other wheats grow
 side by side with them, and In lSOO. Whet VII.
 other wheats were almost nIli comp ,,s failure in the Dakotas, the macarom va rieties produced very good yleIu ,itr, at,C
 the grain was of an excellehI Qual.ty Q
 They have also been successIuiiy growl
 in Kansas and Nepraskn. oi'irrn ,,,il h,
 time not far distant when we VIII Y | raIsinR all of our macaront Wheats' "Although the hop has been grown II iIl
 this country for great many years, l I has always been inferior as eUd as it
 hrin1s a lower price in the market anV la not as desirable as the baVaILan nupS ls,
 cuttings of the best of the latter , Wet' l irnpOrtpd last year. lISSO A. heen placed in the hop-growlng, olstrictS n
 of the United States and promise to D' W far s,,ueriD- 70 the ordinary varieties
 tsSrrownll inf addition to maturing earnel
 fban usual. American barleys are fras aIs
 interior to the Bavarian barleys' ln ordinarv varieties grown in America are
 what are called the 'six-rowed ana IouI a owed kinds. The two-rowed klnos ,r, ol Emrope are superior for many uses, Lnt Tn, I1enartment imported during the las
 vear for experimental purposes il uuan iitv of the very best Bavarlan parieSS
 s ana they are now being trIsd m tnl'
 country. It Is hoped by the Departnen that bv growing this improved oarleS inc importation of large qnanu''es inc product will cease.
 African Date Palms
 "Anothe- importation which propa olA will in time prove of great vaiue 10 th' Southwestern part or me country IS tn,
 of date palms obt lined in Africa. nun ,a
 her of years ago a limited tmpoTta4l9t Ll9' , of these palms was made from Esy pt and, while most of them were ms l through adverse climate, the snipLnen } helped to show the possibilities or 0Aie 1.SIe
 growing in Arizona and Southern Cal,
 fornia, The date palm is of especlal val
 ue in the hot Southwestern country sl!io S
 if thrives and bears fruit best where th' , l ......a.a ~ ora IoDp and hot as in the tW'