Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1904-06-25
UNCLE SANS GAINS
In New Fruits, Grains and
Trees.
INCREASE In WEALTH
FRESH DATES NOW FOR AMER1-
CAN TABLES.
A Talk With Hunting Globe
Trotter About His

Gently returned from Persia, where he was
sent to look up date culture in the interest
of the United States. Mr.. Fairchild is one
OF the first, and may say, the chief OF his
profession. Educated as a botanist he
worked for time as such in the Depart
ment Of Agriculture, and then resigned 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 expenses of this trip were fur
nished by Mr.. Barbour Lathrop of Chicago,
at whose suggestion and under whose pa
tronage Mr. Fairchild later on began to
hunt the world for new plants for the
United States
Philanthropy in Seeds.
Andrew Carnegie's philanthropy runs to
libraries, Stanfords millions were swal-
lowed up in his great California University,
and John Rockefellers surplus-a small
part of 1t, l fear-goes to the Baptist
Church and his famous Chicago College.
Barbour Lathrop, although a poor man in
comparison with these three, has devoted
his surplus to a pursuit which may result in
greater value to the United States than all
the others. Born rich, his life before he
met Mr.. Fairchild had been largely devoted
to travelling up and down the world for his
own study and amusement. A typical
AHeilCdil, Will pTdclCdl business sense, ne
investigated the vegetation of other lands
and as he went conceived the idea that
many foreign plants might be prof1tably
grown In the United States. He had been
travelling thirty years before he came to the
conclusion to put this thought into action,
and 1t was with this idea that he sent Mr..
Fairchild to Buitenzorg, and later took
MIN with him as a plant expert, and trav-
eied from continent to continent, seeking
new seeds and plants for Uncle Sam. All
this was done without cost to the govern
ment, save that the results were distributed
through the Agricultural Department.
Almost at the same time Secretary Will
son became interested in the subject In
deed he had taken 1T up about the time
that Mr.. Lathrop began his active investi-
cations, and since then the work of the two
men has gone on side by side. The Secre-
tary has established bureau for the intro
duction of valuable plants and seeds, and
he has today a number of agricultural ex-
plorers travelling over the world at the ex-
pense of the department. AT present Mr..
Fairchild Is here at Washington in charge
of this bureau working directly under the
Secretary, although most of his work as
an explorer has been under the sole direc-
ton Of Mr.. Lathrop and in connection with
him.
l first met Mr.. Fairchild in 1897, Just
before started out on newspaper trip Of
25,OOO miles. which was to cover the South
American continent, and at his request I
sent him corn and other seeds from about
l afterward tramped over his tracks in
Siam and Java. and found him Just ahead
OF me in Sumatra,I New Guinea, Australia
and the Fijis. Since then he has explored
South America, has gone up and down the
coast OF Africa, and lately to Arabia and
up the Persian gulf to Bagdad, the land of
dates and the Arabian Nights"
Dates for Everyone.
Yes" said Mr.. Fairchild, I'VE will have
fresh dates. and no one who has not tasted
the date fresh from the tree knows what
that means. Dates are Of as many varie-
ties as apples. and some are 30 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
as we'll grown In some parts of Arizona
and California in the Desert of Sahara
and Messapotamia. Indeed, President
Roosevelt and members of his cabinet have
eaten dates thus grown in America, and we
have men in the west who are going into
date raising as a business. The new irri-
cation works which being established
will open up a large area of possible date
country, and dates may in the future be
one of our most profitable fruit crops
How much will dates pay to the acre?"
Mr.. Walter 7. Swfngle, who investigated
date culture in the Sahara, estimates that
1900 pounds can be annually produced on
an acre of land. and that after setting
aside good amount for expenses the net
profit from them will be $3.50 per acre. AS
1t is now, we use only about $4,000, 600
pounds of dates a year; but If they were
raised here and sold fresh the consumption
would be enormously increased and the
profits can hardly be estimated.
The Seedless Date and Navel Orange.
I'VE have introduced a number of differ
ent kinds of dates into the west" continued
Mr.. Fairchild, land we are raising some as
have heard lately, however, of a seedless
date. and am trying to get suckers to plant
in Arizona or in California So far have
not been able to trace 1t, but there Is no
reason why 1T should not exist No one
knew of navel oranges until an Ameri-
can woman, travelling along the coast of
Brazil, was given seedless orange while
her ship stopped at Bahia. She asked about
it, and was told that it was cultivated by
the people of that state. When she came
to Washington she called at the Depart
ment of Agriculture and told Mr. Saunders
about 1t. The old gentleman was very DO
lite, and although he evidently doubted the
statement, he sent down to Bahia, asking
about this orange and for slips of the tree.
Some came, and they were planted In the
department garden. They grew into trees
and upon them were produced the first ma
vel oranges ever seen in the United States
Slips from those trees were sent to Cali
fornia and Florida, and our enormous seed
less orange crop Of today is the result
Not long ago delegation of California
fruit growers visited Washington They
called at the department garden. and one
of them said: u
Those navel orange trees have given
more to the United States than the cost of
the Agricultural Department since its be-
ginning"
New Fruits for Porto Rico.
IT should think that such things might
be grown in Porto Rico. Mr.. Fairchild."
said l. t-.1a,.
Not the date, for that requires a dry
country" said Mr.. Fairchild But the
navel orange can undoubtedly be grown
there. Porto Rico is virgin field for plant
introduction. We are now studying the
tropical fruits to what will grow there,
and think 1t is fair toasay that that island
will some time be the tropical fruit garden
for the United States 1t Is not far from
New York, and the shipping facilities will
grow better and better. One of the fruits
which we are introducing into Porto Rico
Is the mango. We are securing the world
for the best varieties and are planting them
in various parts of Porto Rico I don't
know that you realize that there is as
much difference in mangoes as there is in
peaches and apples. l have seen some in
East Africa as large as a small cantaloupe.
finely Favored and delicious. There is a
mango with very thin seeds grown in the
4.