Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-12-31
RAISING NEW FRUITS
Untiring Efforts Of the Agri-
cultural Department.
A THORNLESS CACTUS
MANY VARIETIES OF SEEDS I'M
PORTED.
Attempts to Grow Lilies and Tulips
Payments for Pensions-The
Rotary Snow Plow.
A THORNLESS CACTUS
BY VIM. E. CURTIS.

all over the world searching for new grains,
vegetables fruits and flowers, which Eau
be grown in our soil and climate, and con-
tribute to our national wealth. Few coun-
tries have such a large variety of soils
and climates as the United States, and Sec
rotary Wilson is of the opinion that We
can produce almost everything we need ID
eat, or wear, or use upon our own farms
and in our own forests and water courses.
His scientific agents are educated first to
know what we are already raising and
where we have waste land to cultivate, ard
they are instructed to search strange
places for economic vegetation that may be
suitable for the conditions which exist
here. Some of the imported plants, like
macaroni wheat, will grow at once like our
own staples. Others have to be seat to
the nurseries for experimental purposes,
where the plan-breeders Of the depart
ment graft them upon other plants and
try to develop something valuable from
them.
l told you the other day how new kinds
of oranges had been bred to endure the
cold, and how new kinds of cotton had
been imported from Central America. which
will resist the pest known as the boil Wee
vii. These are the two most important
botanical undertakings, and they have been
the most successful, but hundreds Of osner
experiments are going on with plants
brought from the uttermost ends of tire
earth. The agents who find them send IN
detailed reports as to the soil, climate,
fertilizers and methods of cultivation most
suitable for them, which guide the plant
breeders In their experiments. Many OF
them turn out to be useless, but more are
valuable, and so important has this work
of the department been that last year
twenty-five carloads of special seed were
distributed for experimental purposes
throughout the United States, among IN
telligent and scientific farmers, with the
understanding that they would report the
results. just now special enort Is oelnS
made to introduce new promising Varleties
of cotton, tobacco, forage crops and otner
staples.
The cotton experts of the department
have been at work for several years, Sc
curing new and desirable varieties wherever
they could be found, and the result Is that
improved strains are already beginning to
appear in several sections of the south.
Almost much energy has been devoted
to finding plants that will grow in the arid
region, and some of the results now devel-
oping are of great promise. Results in bot
any cannot be accomplished in a day, or
month, or a single season. 1t sometimes
requires several seasons with their success
sive crops to bring out all there is in a
new or unknown plant. Different methods
of cultivation have to be tried, different
kinds of soil, and more or less moisture.
A Thornless Cactus.
One of the most important results re-
Gently accomplished is the production of a
cactus that does not bear thorns, or
"spines,' as they are called. The ordinary
cactus of the dessert contains a sweet,
juicy pulp, full of nourishment, and trav-
elers who have been wrecked or lost in the
deserts have often saved themselves from
starvation by eating 1t. 1t makes excellent
fodder for cattle, but they cannot eat it be-
cause of the thorns that cover the skin of
the plant To produce a thornless cactus
is to add another to the list Of important
forage plants, and furnish food for cattle
and horses in the deserts and rainless re-
gions of the west. The cactus will grow
anywhere; 1t needs no water and no atten-
tion; hence. an unlimited supply Of that
sort OF fodder can be grown on lands which
now produce nothing of value.
A few years ago the department COM
menced to introduce dates from Egypt and
plains OF Arizona and southern California.
There are now several Furnishing date gar
dens, demonstrating the possibility of rails
ing an unlimited quantity of that kind of
rrult which is as common and as important
among the Arabs as bread is to us last
year more than $50 date suckers, Represent
ing forty-two varieties, were brought from
me oasis OF Biswra, in the Desert of Sa-
nara, ana grated upon palm trees in the
far southwest. |--N
Many Varieties of Seeds.
Two hundred and fifty pounds of pistache
seeu were Imported from turkey and CEN
trail Asia and sent to the southwest. thir-
ty-three varieties of the finest mangoes in
central India were distributed in Florida
and a similar number of mangosteens
which is the most delicate variety of tho
mango were transplanted from the PhiIin
pine Islands. new variety of horseradish
was brought over from Moravia: a number
OF south African grapevines, East Afri-
can sorghums and clover from JTpanda
Several varieties of clover were broueh t
from Egypt and distributed in Texas New
Mexico, Arizona and California A new
KIND OF alfalfa was brought from Turkes-
tan and new seedless pomelo from Siam
Bamboo plants have been brought from
Japan and planted in the wet soil of Flori-
ia; the yang-taW, an entirely new fruit
has been sent by Consul Wilcox of Han,
kow; 157 bushels of berseem have been
brought from the valley of the Nile: nine
teen varieties of grapes from the Cauca sus
Mountains, and 105 varieties from France
nave peen obtained. which. it is claimed,
Deen produced In Russia, and named
Vladimir" in honor of one of the grand
dukes. Two hundred seedlings have been
distributed among our northwestern states
Growing Lilies and Tulips.
Inere are spent enormous sums of money
every year for lilies, hyacinths. tulips and
other bulbs. Shiploads of lilies are brought
from Bermuda every Easter for the decora-
ton OF American churches. The immortal
tons Of tulips and hyacinths for last wear
ran up to nearly million dollars, and the
amount is increasing all the time. Hun
dreds of gardeners in Holland live entirely
upon the proceeds of the tulip and hya-
cinth bulbs they send to the United States
Holland Is the only place where they are
grown for export purposes, although very
fine tulips are raised in England and Ire
land. The experiments Of the Agricultural
Department have demonstrated, however
that equally good bulbs can be grown along
the northern shores of Puget sound, where
the mild winters, cool summers, the mois-
ture in the atmosphere and continuous sun
shine furnish the right conditions.
The only difficulty Is in transportation
charges. The largest market for bulbs is
In the eastern cities and it costs three or
four times as much to send a barrel from
Bellingham, WASH, to New York by rail
as it does from Holland by sea. 1t requires
a great deal more care and labor also than
ordinary Anne rican farmers are willing to
put into a crop. Labor is scarce and ex-
pensive out in that country, but 1t is con-
tended that, with our labor-saving ma
chinery, one man in northwestern Washing
ton can cultivate eight acres of tulips or
hyacinth bulbs as easily as he can culti-
vate one acre with the primitive methods
used in Holland, and can sell his product
at the same price. Land is very much more
expensive In Holland. 1t Is estimated that
twenty-five or thirty acres of tulips or hya-
ID, In tnn nd