The St. Mary banner. (Franklin, Parish of St. Mary, La.) 1889-1931, 1909-09-04
Plant E;
Hunting s.;
Expedite ns ;
HOW THE GOyERNMENT MAKES :
USE OF PROMISING PLANTS. y

can do with plants 'DH btScdi'A7' -
scientific cultivation, has maze lie
American farmer eager 10 Try he"
things to see if he cannot get hio'e
out Of his land.
Wild plants that until now have
been practically yalueless nave ~
come of great value for breeding pu'-
poses, furnishing some ch2racee''
s1ch as fruit without seed or a seem
without spines, that in the new ptaAt
created may appear as Valuable
characteristic. Here, then, Wills
David Fairch;ld in the Youth tohi-
panicn, is new reason, a ne" siiii-
illus for the exploration CT the wor'2'
and one in which the American lafA-
er's son is taking an active par.
The prairies and forests OF the "olil
must again be ranged over by tfa.heo
men who know what they are at1ef'
and this time it is the living SEEDS
and plants which they will search 'or
and import. The life alone in strange
lands and among hostile. suspicious
peoples is sometimes of extreme dan
ger and hardship.
Let me give from Frank Meyers
letters which have recently come IN
the nicture of an explorers life IN
Manchuria and China. For three
months he saw no white race save
that of an occasional missionary; h5
was always surrounded by curious
and impertinent natives; sleeping IN
inns that no human being should sleep
in fer the verm.n living on what rae
people of the country live on, forcea
to cover great distances on foot, max
ing Icing and wearisCme marchee
alone late into the night to reach the
next inn, only to find it cold ana
cherries with the wind Whlstlns
through the torn paper windows, to
sleep on a cold brick bedstead or nerd
with Cinnamon of the dirty cooEe
class for warmth. He has known
what it is to be mob5ed by hundreds
OF Infatuated Cinnamon in the streets
of an interior city and to escape only
by the exercise of rare diplomacy.
and he has been set upon by Siberian
ruffians and has fought for his lie
with a dirk.
It is not enough to find a new
plant in foreign land and send some
seed of it to this country. Ii the
plant is entirely new there will be no
one to take care of it, and perhaps
no one to see that it is rightly plant
ed. Some one must see that it gets
into the hands CT the man who wants
it and is prepared to grow 1t. rms
need has induced the Government to
build up the Office of seed and plant
introduction, where all the things
sent in by explorers are re-
ceiyed and from which they are
sent out again through the country.
To this Office come every day
scores of requests from experiment.
ers who want to try seeds or plants
which the explorers have sent in from
abroad and to this Office come in ev'
cry day from eight to ten shipments
of living seeds or plants from the
most cut of the way parts of the
world.
Today arrived remarkable red corn
from Peru, a collection OF wild fodder
plants from Palestine, seine Chinese
dates from Pekin, Chinese litchi fruit
from the island of Honan. half ton
of seed of the native Arabian alfalfa
from the mouth of the Tigris and big
shipment of Egyptian clover seed from
Cairo The requests have come for
these things already, and as soon as
the seeds are cleaned and the plants
are inspected for diseases and pro-
nounced healthy they will be sent on
their way to the different parts of
the country.
There are in each State expert
ment stations with corps or men who
are paid to try such things. and TO
these State stations great many o.
the imports go; but not all, for any
man who shows that he is able to
take care OF the new things and is
in short an experimental is entitled |
to the Governments encouragement |
and assistance.
To change the crops of the coun-
try, to encourage the farmer who has
always grown corn to try something
else when corn fails, is a duty of this
office.