The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1904-07-11
The EARTH
is SEARCHED
For Useful Plants That
Might Add to Our
Wealth.
(By Frank C. carpenter.)

|
this country as bananas are now
These were the words of David 6.
Fairchild, the agricultural explorer,
who recently returned from Persia,
| where he was sent to look up date Gull
| ture in the interest of the United
States. Mr.. Fairchild is one of the
profession. Educated as a botanist, he
worked for a time as such in the De-
partrnent of Agriculture, and then re-
! signed to go to Buitenzorg, Java, and
study plants and fungus diseases in the
/ botanical garden there, the largest and
| finest garden of the world. The ex-
! penses of this trip We're furnished by
| Barbour Lathrop of Chicago. at whose
suggestion and under whose patron
age Mr.. Fairchild later on began to
hunt the world for new plants for the
United States.
PHILANI HROPY IN SEEDS.
Andrew Carnegies philanthropy runs
swallowed up in his great California
university, and John Rockefeller's
surplus-a small part of it-goes to the
Baptist church and his famous Chica-
go university. Barbour Lathrop, al
! though a poor man in comparison with
these three, has devoted his surplus to
I
value to the United States than all
| the others. Born rich his life before
he met Mr.. Fairchild had been devoted
largely to travelling up and down the
world for his own study and amuse-
ment. typical American, with prac-
| teal business sense, he investigated
/ the vegetation of other lands, and as
he went conceived the idea that many
| foreign plants might be grown profit
F, ably in the United States. He had
been travelling thirty years before he
came to the conclusion to put this
thought into action. and it was with
| this idea that he sent Mr.. FairchiId
to Buitenzorg, and later took him with
him as a plant expert and Travelled
! from continent to continent seeking
new seeds and plants for Uncle Sam.
All this was done without cost to the
government, save that the results were
distributed through the Agricultural
Department.
Almost at the same time Secretary
Wilson became interested in the sub
ject. Indeed, he had taken it up about
the time that Mr.. Lathrop began his
! active investigations, and since then
the work of the two men has gone on
side by side. The Secretary has es-
tabhshed a bureau for the introduction
of valuable plants and seeds, and he
has today a number of agricultural ex-
plorers travelling over the world at the
expense of the department. At pres
ent Mr.. Fairchild is here at Washing
ton in charge of this bureau, working
directly under the secretary, although
most of his work as an explorer has
been under the sole direction of Mr..
Lathrop and in connection with him.
FRESH DATES FOR EVERYONE.
Yes" said Mr. Fairchild, 1--WE will
have fresh dates, and no one who has
not tasted the date fresh from the tree
as many varieties as apples. and some
are so delicious that they will form
one of the favorite fruits of our tables.
We have introduced date palms on the
high, dry lands of the Southwest. and
now know that they can be grown as
well in some parts of Arizona and
California as in the Desert of Sahara
and Messapotamia. Indeed, President
Roosevelt and r71arT1t Of h
have eaten dates thus grown in Amer
lea, and we have men in the West who
are going into date raising as a bust
ness. The new irrigation works which
are being established will open up a
large area of possible date country, and
dates in the future may be one of our
most profitable fruit crops"
How much will dates pay to the
acre?'
Walter T. Swingle. who investigated
date culture in the Sahara, estimates
that 1000 pounds can be produced an
nually on an acre and that after set
ting aside a good amount for expenses
the net profit from them will be $3.50
an acre. As it is now. we use only a
bout 1S,000,000 pounds OF dates a year.
but if they We're raised here and sold
fresh the consumption would be enor-
mously increased and the profits can
hardly be estimated.
RIVAL DATES OF PERSIA.
I'VE have introduced a number of
different kinds of dates into the West
continued Mr.. F'airchild, and we are
raising some as delicious as any have
tasted in Persia. I have heard lately
however, of a seedless date, and am
trying TO get suckers to plant in Ari-
IONA or in California. So far I have
not been able to trace it, but there is
no reason why it should not exist. No
one knew of navel oranges until an
American woman, travelling along the
coast Of Brazil, was given a seedless