Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1906-01-13
SEEN WITH INTEREST
AGRICULTURAL DEPARTMENT
WORK INSPECTED.

Sir Horace Piunkett, NJ. p, secretary of
agriculture for Ireland, called at the De-
partment of Agriculture yesterday to see
what of interest was being done In the varf-
Gus bureaus and to take back whatever in
formation was of value to the residents OF
the distress fui country" This was by no
means the first visit of Sir Horace to the
department. In speaking of his visit to a
Star reporter he said:
II come over to this country regularly
once every year. ] have some interests of
a private sort here myself and have to look
after them, and always want to see what
Is being done in the Agricultural Depart
| ment. They always make the visit just as
pleasant as 1T is possible to be, and have
received all sorts of courtesies and assist
ance from every one, from the President
and Secretary down.
''Of course, this is such rich country
over here practically virgin, that you can
do wonderful things with agriculture. What
with seed selection. the use of various scien-
title devices and the introduction OF fer
ments. you seem to have almost eliminated
the question of soil or climate.
The Drift of the Cities.
But you are facing the same problem
here that we are IN the old country, namely
the depopulation of the country districts
and the drift Of the best and most enter
prising of the population to the towns. /
think that the work the Department of Ag
riculture is doing in making country life
more attractive and in making living con-
dttions there more satisfactory is one of
the most important of its works or course
there are great many things now that help
TO make country life pleaSanter. The tele
phone. easy disseminate ton of literature and
that sort of thing all help, but the attrac-
ton of the town is strong all the same and
II Is the very best element, the element that
~ n lint lparF Irtft
cityward
Il can understand it perfectly well have
feit 1t myself when ranching in the west
You take six months on the ranch and
then come down to Chicago with lot OF
cattle and the very glare and whirl of the
city is Intoxicating, Is 1t any wonder, when
the cowboys have turned over their bunch
OF cattle and have few days off that they
want to turn in and paint the town? /
don't blame them. That Is the attraction
the city always has for the country popu-
lation. and think one of the most import
ant problems is to make country life so re-
muneratiFe and SO interesting that the best
OF your people viii not want to leave it,
VI course, with rich soil and the adj
vances that have been made in scientific
agriculture, you can do very wonderful
Things IN this country. But there are SO
many branches of research that need to be
ioilowed up that I really do not think this
oNeiiunent realizes the importance of the
work that the Agricultural Dena rtmept 10
with" ~ w A.
Proper Feeding of Man.
Turning to the immediate object of his
visit. Sir Horace said that he was n,,ite as
much interested in the dietary experiments
oi the department with regard to human
beings as he was In the proper feeding of
I'VE Shock In fact" said he, 81 think it
is even more important. We have an old
ana Worn-out soil to deal with and a large
population to feed, so that it is most i'm
poftant for us to find out the way to pet
the most and the best out Of the soil and
Ieed up the population, as it were to a
higher intellectual level The proper feed
ing or men is. to my mind, more import
tie" 49,
AS to tobacco growing, he said that the
work was progressing satisfactorily in Ire
land with the aid Of American experts but
1t had not yet reached point where it
was commercially practicable crop.
\ on KNOW, said he, that there is
duty Of three shillings pound on the i'm
portation of tobacco, and there has been
one smiling pound of this RENTED to
the experimenters who are carrying on the
work. This is, of course. a bounty, and I
do not think that it can be kept up to en-
courage the crop, as the revenue would
have to raise this money in some other
form. But so far as the experiment is
concerned, the work is going on very
WE'LL
Ranching Interests in the West.
Sir Horace had a talk with President
Roosevelt last night and left later for New
York, whence he sails for home Wednesday
He has still considerable ranching interests
in the. west in Montana, Wyoming
and Nebraska. He used to be a COW
puncher in the western country, and
says he likes the life and the people
and really fells a. good deal as though
he were half an Americans. On his
tour Of the Agricultural Department yes
terday he was shown whatever was of in
terest in the late work in the way of plant
breeding, soil culture, farm management
seed selection and chemical research Of
various sorts. He said there were a great
many points that were Of particular in
terest to Irish agriculture especially as
the increased production of piece of land
not only meant better living for the ten
ant but would turn a renter into an owner
in a very much shorter space of time.