The star. (Reynoldsville, Pa.) 1892-1946, 1909-05-19
The Power of Man Over Plants.
BY DR. WILEY Chief Chemist Of the Department Of Agriculture

great Varieties Oh COLtOH, hHOWu do
sea island and upland. The sea island
cotton has the longer and better fiber
and brings a much higher price In the
market than can be secured for the
upland. The Improvement of the sea
island cotton and the extension Of its
growth to the mainland are, there
fore, highly desirable.
The sea island cotton, when first
introduced to this country, was a
slowly maturing variety, and 1t was
difficult to secure proper seed. There
fore the first step indicated was the
selection of those plants which ma
tured their seeds earliest, in order to
get variety which would ripen we'll
near the coast or on islands off the
coast of South Carolina and Georgia.
Success attended the experiments,
and q variety of sea island cotton
was produced capable of much wider
extension than the original A longer
and better fiber has been developed,
as well as a more hardy plant and one
producing larger yield.
In regard to the methods of i'm
proving Indian corn, it may be said
the not only is the Indian corn bred
on account of its composition and
character, but also on account of its
| physical appearance. Work of this
kind has been very extensively done
at the Kansas Agricultural Expert
ment Station.
Mr.. Luther Burbank has produced
some very remarkable transformations
of plants by the use of the factors
which have been mentioned before
| in connection with cross-fertilization
and other means of improvement.
The Magic of Decentralization.
| The idea of cross-fertilization is
suggested by Nature herself. The
birds and bees carry the pollen from
plant to plant, and often affect cross.
fertilization in this way
This idea has beer worked out In
scientific manner, SO that systematic
cross pollenization or fertilization has
now become one of the most i'm
portant means of modifying plant life
These notifications may be good OF
bad. Those that are bad are aban-
doned, and those that are good are
retained and propagated until distinct
types or varieties are established
The human hand, in other words
takes the place of the bee or the bird
1t may be possible to produce almost
any kind of variation in plant by
patient and scientific effort. Those
qualities in plants which are most
useful and are most beautiful may be
developed, modified and increased fol
| the pleasure and the benefit of man
Thus progress may go on almost with
out limit.
| A systematic and scientific cultiva.
tion of drug plants in the United
| States with a purpose of adapting
them to practical use is an undertake
| ing of recent origin. The Department
of Agriculture has begun these in
vestigations because of the fact thai
the natural supply of drug plants II
the United States is rapidly being ex
hausted. Among the plants which
have been experimental with may bt
mentioned licorice, capsicum, sage
belladonna, caraway, anise and cori
ander.
Especially in our Southern States
is it evident that there are many ad
vantages of which the grower OF
drugs may avail himself. The Ions
growing season, warm summers, ant
the abundant rain supply are favor
able to the growth of drug plants o.
many kinds.
In addition to the drugs already
mentioned there have been cultivated
with an intent to domesticate them
a number of drug plants heretofore
growing wild.
Golden seal is plant of value as {
drug, and its use has been of such {
character as practically to exhaus
the natural supply. The forests o
the country have been searched faI
and near for the plant growing in ;
wild state.
ri ,ECTRTC TRA(