The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1907-08-16
Vegetable Immigrants.

| II seems strange, says the author of
startling article in Appleton's Maya
| zlne Tor August, to look back on the
| Gays when we imported fruit and vege-
| tables, with the whole plant kingdom
| ready to be conquered for our farmers
| we smile when we recall the days be-
| tore the war" when the tomato was
| cur1o from Peru-a poison apple USED
70 brighten the slaves into obedience
Yet last year we grew it on 100000 acres
| of land!
The Franciscan fathers were early
workers in this respect. The alfalfa they
introduced in the fifties-which founo
its way here from Asia Minor, by way
of Chile-has turned 100000 acres INTO
an immensely profitable farm area:
Their sprigs of olive, too, now cover !'OoO
orchards. And few orange cuttings
from the Bra lillian East Coast, que TO
the foresight of an American woman,
today represent $8,000,000 year for the
California crop alone.
These things go on in silence. NO MS
torian chronicled the arrival among us
in 1920 of the Lima beam which today
is such a plentiful and important crop
that special freight rates are Quilted for
it between southern California ana the
Atlantic coast. We save some OF the
names, even while we forget tnelr source.
Few are apt to recall that the explorers
brought from Russia the stout-hearted
vladimir cherry and the Siberian crap
apple, to provide hardy fruits for our
own northern regions
AS one of the smaller things. take the
horseradish of Malin, a little village
near Vienna-the best of its kind in the
world Then behold roots secured on
the spot, and in due time handed over to
New Jersey growers The result was
surprising. Not only did it yield ton
more per acre, but the cash result was
800 an acre over and above the ordi-
nary yield. And in single county of
that small state the production OF
horseradish grew from few hundred
pounds a year to more than 100000
bounds. 1t has been the same with the
potato from the Highlands Of Colombia
and Peru; the rhubarb from Central
Asia; the asparagus from England; the
celery of South Europe; the Beldi and
Tell barleys from Algeria, which have
given such wonderful results in our
southwest; likewise the Ivanov rye from
Russia, now grown in Maryland and
Kansas; and the Abruzzes rye from the
italian Highlands
Send out and get the best In the
world; then educate the farmers in its
culture and the public in It's use; and
after that grow 1t here at home with
scientific zeal. Such was the theory
which created the bureau of seed and
plant introduction at Washington, now
recording a dozen new arrivals a day
from every part of the Garth. And re-
member that in any one or these tiny
seeds or apparently wilted cuttings may
changing of desert into farm.
We are all familiar with polar explor-l
ation-its thrills. its terrors; the heroism
with which its devotees face dreadful
death; and with pioneer work in equa-
torial Africa But what is the practical
value to mankind of such tasks, COM
pared with those of the men whose work
is here described? They. too. risk life
and limb and health; suffer many hard
ships, great heat and cold, fever and
thirst-all the discomforts of Peary
or q Stanley But what did Sven Hedin
bring back from Central Asian wilds
one-ha1f so valuable as Prof. N. E. Han
sens new alfalfa?
And while we have rich men in plenty,
how few there are who have served
their country as Barbour Lathrop OF
Chicago has served it. He loves world
travel this man. and so he works hard
for us in Asia, Africa, the South Seas
wherever he may be; an Honorary f.x-
pIorer'' these seven years, taking with
him David Fairchild as plant expert and
going round the world twice, Visiting
every continent and every important
archipelago, sending home thousands OF
specimens. from a single cutting in
tin tube to a ton of some Arabian or
a frica0 grain