The Montgomery advertiser., 1909-05-25

different branches OF a8rlcuiture that
the present crop season In the United
states and Canada will produce wider
range of commercial articles than any
| previous summer As farming becomes
| more Of an exact science, and the av-
/ erage size OF farms becomes smaiier.
the agricuiturist Is looking for new
and better paying crops. TINS Is par.
| ticularly true of the gardener, the
trucker, the norist and the fruit grow
| err.
The Department of Agriculture Is
| rendering great assistance to TINS
movement for new and more profitable
crops. It IL ransacking the hora OF
the world for things which may be al
! vanta8eously introduced here It's
| most recent study relates to camphor.
Japan has long had practical monop-
| oily of the production of this staple.
| which Is as essential In war as iron
or steel. 1t enters into most OF the
high explosives especially smokeiess
| powder, used by the army and navy,
and IL japan cut OF our supply she
might handicap US seriously In case OF
| war
The Bureau of Plant Industry has
| Investigated the matter and reached the
| conclusion that camphor can be grown
| In the Southern part of the Uniteu
| States. A three thousand acre tract OF
Florida land has been acquired by the
government and will be set out In
camphor trees. In Japan 1t has always
| been the custom to allow the trees TO
| grow to maturity and then cut them
down, disti1ling the camphor from the
| logs. In Florida and Texas the gov
eminent will plant them very close TO-
Lgether, and when the shrubs reach q
| height OF about three feet they Will
be cut down with moving machine
/ ~ teskl1 fa~t. nan
| crop will follow in short order.
Peppermint culture IL one OF the
most interesting OF the small crop OPP
| erations. Michigan Is the center OF the
peppermint growing region, and the
soil where 1t is grown IL so mucky that
the horses have 10 be fitted with large
wooden shoes before they can work
on 1t. The cost of cultivation isabout
$l4 an acre. and the profit from SIS to
! $40. One farmer has about 10000
acres of land devoted to the growing
of peppermint, which Is the largest
farm of its kind In the world. He
keeps about 500 shorthorn beef cattle,
feeding them peppermint hay in the
winter. which they eat with great rel
ish when the oil has been pressed from
II.
In 1874 several enterprising New
Workers concluded they could corner
the peppermint. oil market They sent
a representative to England to hnd
out how much oil was needed to supply
the demand. which was about $4,000
pounds a year. They then went to the
New York producers and the Ohio pro-
ducers and paid them not to cultivate
peppermint for FIVE years. After this
they bought the entire product OF
Michigan at price mutually agreed
upon Then they sold peppermint oil
at their own price. After three years
some of the Ohio and New York grow
ers. seeing how prices had advanced,
concluded that they would break their
contracts. The peppermint oil trust
did not attempt to prevent their doing
SO. having made a profit large enough
to satisfy its greed
The growing of mushrooms Is one OF
the most profitable occupations In the
world---if the grower thoroughly
knows his business. The prices range
from 75 cents a pound to $50. The
majority of growers of mushrooms
have less than a thousand square feet
Of beds but they make more out OF
these than the average farmer makes
from two hundred acre farm There
Is perhaps.fss other crop in the United
States or Canada which can pc grown
with such tprodt where the conditions
are favorable 1t Is said that the cave
region OF the Shenandoah Valley and
the Blue Grass region OF Kentucky Of
fer splendid opportunities for mush-
room culture caves being Ideal grow
ing places for fungi.
Castor bean culture is quite profit-
able little industry In some parts OF
the South. It is from these beans that
castor oil is made. okra or gumbo Is
also grown with profit in the South.
Experiments have been made In cross
ing the sand cherry with plums, and
the indications are that the new ny
brid will make a valuable acquisition
| to the small fruit garden. Horttcui-
/ iurists regard the sand cherry as the
| most promising of all the native un-
| developed fruits. The juneberry Is an
| other native which science is trying to
| domestieate Mankind at large Is fond
OF the huckleberry and many attempts
| have been made to persuade 1t to for
sake it's abiding place in the woods and
| mountains for the fields of civilization
| hut IL has spurned every attempt of
| the plant trainers to tame It, They
/ have now turned their attention to the
| tuneberry In the affections of the peo-
! pie, especially those In the treeless re-
| gions of the country.
| The avocado. or alligator pear Is
thriving well in its new surroundings
on American soil. 1t is tropical
salad fruit, eaten like the cantaloupe
1t grows luxuriantly on the Isthmus OF
| Panama. and the canal, diggers regard
| II as more than a substitute for the
| Rockford. The trees planted in Flor
| ida have thrived, and alligator pear
| growing promises to become profit-
| able business. The taste for II needs
| a little cultivation, but all connotsseurs
! agree that 1t makes delectable dish.
| There is a vast profit In Its produce
! ton a single tree producing from ten
to sixty pears, with prices as high as
SO a dozen.
The growing of medicinal plants is
| becoming an important occupation. IT
is estimated that the American people
annually import s15,000.000 worth of
medicinal plants from Europe, and the
| bulk of this sum might just as well be
kept at home Ginseng has long been
| the favorite crop, but the prices Were
| so high that over production resulted.
| At one time the ginseng growers had
! to burn about three-fourths of their
crop to keep mp prices. China is the
principal buyer of American ginseng.
| but IL will have none but the wild
roots Consequently, the demand for
cultivated ginseng is very much small
| er now than II used to be. Golden seal
| is supplanting ginseng as successful
crop, a great many growers finding It
exceedingly profitable. One grower re-
| ports that his beds have yielded him
! clear profit at the rate Of $4,000 per
acre.
| profits of different crops he has to mar.
vel at the devotion of the average
farmer to the cereals. Federal census
data shows that the average per acre
value of flowers in the United States u
| Q o Nh, that of nnraarv nrndnpts