Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1907-04-02
SCIENTIST TO CORNELL
DR.. Weber Resigns From the
Agricultural Department.
EXPRESSIONS OF REGRET
At His Departure Because of His
Efficient Work.
AN ADVENTURE IN COTTON
Low He and His Assistant Were
Taken for Two Insane Patients
in North Carolina.

OF plant-breeding investigations under the
general supervision Of Dr. Galloway of the
| bureau Of plant industry in the Department
| OF Agriculture. left yesterday for Cornell.
where he has accepted a place as the head
Of new department of the university. 1t
Will be known as the department of plant
| biology and is in the line of the work that
| Dr. Weber has been doing in the Depart
! ment of Agriculture. General regret was
expressed at the department over the resig-
nation Of DR.. Webber. who Is regarded as
one of the most practical and efficient
workers in his particular line In the coun-
| try. If not in the world. He goes to Cor
| nell. however, at a decidedly increased
salary. with corps of assistants under
him house and other perqusites, so that
| the move is materially a very good one and
| his scientific friends were glad on that &C
| count.
He will not entirely sever his connection
WIN WIN the department, being still in a posi-
| ton to do special work in connection with
1plant-breeding investigations. The work of
| the new department that has been estab-
iished for him at Cornell runs parallel with
| his previous work, but goes back further,
! aiming to discover the laws of plant hered-
| ity, of which plant breeders all over the
| world have been taking advantage in pro-
ducing new species. There is a good deal
known already of the effects of heredity
but little of its causes, and the department
| of plant biology is Intended to study and
| classify the laws of heredity so that they
may be applied more effectively in practical
| work.
| Work for the Department.
| DR.. Weber has done much yalua BILE
work for the department since he has been
there, it being due to him that the long
| staple upland cotton has been developed;
| that the ctrange has been produced from
| the hardy orange trees of Japan, and that
| many improvements have been made in
| seed selection. in both tobacco and cotton
| culture. One of the last and most i'm
| portant pieces of work that he accom-
! plished before leaving the department was
! to develop method of seed selection for
cotton planting that ought to add about
| S40,OOO.0OO annually to the value of the
| American cotton crop.
| DR.. Weber has been tireless field
! worker and has been all over the United
| States in the development of his practical
| work in the field for the Department of
| Agrfcfitlf re has gotten to the point where
it no longer trusts to laboratory and green
| house experiments, but tries it's discov-
| cries in the field in the region they are de-
| signed to benefit, instead of leaving them
| to be worked out by the farmers without
| scientific supervision.
In the course Of this work, the scien-
| lists of the department meet with a good
| many experiences. some of them amounting
! almost to adventures Some of his fellow
| workers are still laughing over an expert
ence of this. sort that happened to DR..
Weber in North Carolina not long ago In
| the course of his cotton experiments. The
doctor is short, thick-set and pretty pow
erful individual. and would rather work in
| field than at desk if there is anything
| worth while doing. He had made arrange
ments for a good-sized consignment of cot
Fton seed of new variety to be planted in
| field In North Carolina ground at
| tached to one of the state insane asylums.
Part of. the work consisted In .rogueing"
| the patch In early summer, that is to say,
! thinning it out and discarding the unde-
q hln nj tha ffYpa for
thinning out the cotton, he went down
there with one of his assistants, an equally
enthusiastic young man. and, leaving the
station, they were walking up to the asy
| lum to call on the superintendent and pro-
| coed with their work.
| Taken for Insane Patients.
On the way up to the building they pass
ed the patch of cotton and stopped to look
! it over. 1t was coming on finely and after
! inspecting it from the road side of the
| fence they could not resist the temptation
| of hopping over into the field and Inspect
! ing the plants at close range. One thing
| led to another and 1t was not long before
they were down on their knees, busily en-
| gagged in wedding out the plants that were
| to be discarded and having elegant time.
| Deep in this congenial work. 1.-The world
| forgetting" they were not by the world
| forgot"
| One of the citizens of the locality riding
| by saw them at work and after watching
| them minute he spurred up the hill ard
| broke in on the superintendent
Say he exclaimed, do you know two
| of your patients are loose down the hill
there. tearing up all the cotton in one Of
| those felds?"
| Which field?" said the superintendent,
| Immediately interested.
West side, down to the bend of the big
| road said the bearer of bad tidings.
| "Oh, good Lord" walled the superin-
| tendent, eff that amt the government ex-
| perimental patch that mustn't be touched
| by anybody till we hear from the Agri-
| cultural Department.! Get out the men
| quick
And they got out the men. sixteen lusty
keepers, used to dealing with violent pa
| tients and they stalked DR.. Weber and
| his assistant and pounced on them without
| warning.
! Protests were of no avail. The more the
| doctor explained who he was and what he
| was doing the more the head keeper was
sure he was crazy, and the result was that
| the two protesting scientists were hailed up
| the hill to the superintendent Office as
| violent lunatics and turned over to the
| authorities. where the matter was grad
| ually Strengthened out. Just who let the
| story out has never developed. but the yarn
is known from one end of the department
| to the other and remains a choice reminis
cence among the less Interesting annals OF