Los Angeles herald., 1907-04-28

would produce beets rich in sugar could
best be grown, how to prepare the soil
plant, cultivate, harvest, test and what
to do with the by-products. Seed is be-
| ing developed that has but one germ
(moSt beet seeds have more)-seeds
that can be planted as corn is planted,
cultivated without hand work, topped
by machinery and lifted by machinery.
When this point is reached we shall
make our own sugar with machinery
from the plow to the factory. The
American farmer likes to sit on spring
seat, and we must provide 1t for him.
mo more coal is being made, our
wood fuel is getting scarce and the
supply of mineral oils will some day
cease. 1t is high time we were looking
about for sources of light, heat and
power. Other countries are doing this.
Alcohol meets the requirements, and
starchy plants yield alcohol. One Of
our exporters last year found the Sibe-
rians at Tomsk growing large variety
of potato for the alcohol 1t yields. He
brought back half ton of them, which
will be distributed this spring among
the experiment stations.
"The southern cassava, yams and
sweet potatoes will yield alcohol, as
will the sugar beet Corncobs give
eleven gallons of alcohol to the ton and
sweet-corn stalks seven. Many refuse
plants will be used and much unmar-
ketable fruit and vegetable matter.
"The farm is ready to supply heat,
light and power when other sources
fail. Many localities in the west suffer
for fuel in winter when storms are Sc
we're or cars are scarce. We have legis-
lation to permit the making of alcohol
without payment of taxes when mixed
with something to prevent it's use as a
beVerage-wood alcohol, perhaps. The
time is surely coming when the people
remote from wood coal or oil will ar
range to grow plants rich in starch for
their supply of light, heat and power.
The present inquiry is along the lines
of economical production, as in all new
enterprises
1.-THE corn stalks of the corn belt that
are not used for fodder would make
very large quantities of alcohol, which
would be extracted and the refuse re-
turned to the soil or used for feed, to
maintain necessary organic matter, al
cohol not being a fertilizer The de-
partment of agriculture is experiment.
ing along this line, and also with re-
gard to new devices for burning this
new fuel.
Nitrogen Supply
zone of the greatest agricultural
questions in this country is the mainte-
nance of the fertility of the soil. One
of the questions involved in this subject
is the supply of nitrogen. Prophets
have told US in past years that 1t was
only question of time when America
would cease to be a grain producing
country on account of the lack of nitro
gen. These prophecies have not come
true, for the reason that American
genius has found a way to meet the
emergencies as they arise and will con-
tinue to find a way.
"Our chief source Of nitrogen at the
present time is from the various chem
icals imported from foreign countries.
We also gair considerable nitrogen
aging the production of nitrogen at
home the department is putting forth
every effort to induce farmers to grow
these legumes. n the south, of course,
one kind OF legume must be grown. In
the middle west red clover is a stand
ard crop. These legumes gather nitro
gen from the air, store 1t up, and give It
back to the soil. Besides this method,
the department has developed a labor
atory system of encouraging iegumes
to gather more nitrogen from the air.
1T takes the little organisms that
grow on the roots OF legum handles
them In the laboratory, and sends them
out to the farmers, so that they can
treat their seed In such a way as to
induce the plants from this seed to be-
come strenuous nitrogen collectors The
department last year sent out over
100000 lots Of these nitrogen cultures to