The silver state. [volume] (Winnemucca, Nev.) 1909-1925, 1911-03-25
TALK OF REC|PRO-
CITY With MEXICO
(From F. J. DYER.)
Especial to the Silver Statal

reciprocity treaty will be likely to in
Jure the chances for the ratification of
the Canadian tariff reciprocity treaty
by congress at its extra session.
Reciprocity with Mexico is the very
thing which has been feared by some
of the foremost opponents of the
Canadian treaty. BY reason of the low
wage scale paid in Mexico, the cheap
ness of land. and the climatic ad-
vantages in some parts of the repub-
lie, making it possible to produce
fruit, grain, livestock and other agri-
cultural staples much more cheaply
than they can be produced on this side
Of the line, Mexico threatens to be-
come a formidable competitor of the
United States in many directions
where her competition has heretofore
not been felt. In a quiet way the
government of Mexico has been fore
ing agricultural development. The cat
tie interests realize that the free i'm
portation of cattle and sheep and
hogs from Mexico would make a great
deal of difference in their profits.
Farmers along the border know better
than others how impossible it would
be for them to compete with Mexican
farmers whose land and labor cost
them next to nothing. Take the high
| ly specialized citrus fruit industry Ct
California, Arizona, Texas, Louisiana
and Florida. The lands used are
among the most costly on which any
commercial crop is grown. In many
cases they ale irrigated at a large ex
pense. Almost without exception the
bills for fertilizer are very high, run
ming as high as 800 or more per acre
per year, for these crops rapidly ex-
haust the soil. The labor employed is
expensive, if efficient. The cost of
handling he crop is large, being di-
vided between the piekers, packers,
preeoolers, refrigerators and carriers,
the proportion going to the railroads
being in all cases very large. At the
present time even with a protective
tariff the citrus fruit from Cuba and
Mexico can be brought into this coun-
try and sold at a profit. The planting
of citrus fruit has gone on very ex-
tensively in both those countries dur
ing the last few years, and there is
beginning to be a great pressure for
1 lowering of the tariff. Much American
capital is represented in the Cuban
and Mexican citrus fruit industry, and
these Americans will join hands with
the Sicilian lemon growers and the
New York importers of lemons to force
down the tariff to point where the
southern and southwestern orchardists
will face absolute ruin. This is not the
only direction in which Mexican recip-
rocity would be injurious to American
industries, for Mexico has been ex
panding very rapidly, not only agricul-
turally but industrially; and with her
cheap labor she would be a most for
midable competitor of American in
dustries all along the line if she were
gwen free access to our markets. 1t
is foregone conclusion, therefore,
that every farmer and manufacturer
who will foresee injury to his business
through reciprocity will use his utmost
endeavor to prevent il from being
brought about.
Breeding Grains for Alaska
An odd plan is on foot to make the
Colorado mountains a sort of proving
ground for agriculture in Alaska. OF
course there are a good many kinds
of agriculture in Alaska that do not
need proving. They are already an es-
tablished success, both scientifically
and commercially. Hundreds of tons
of potatoes, oats and cabbage are
grown and sold in the territory each
year and there are dozen other sue
cessful crops.
But Alaskan nights are too cool to
mature string beans and corn, for in
stance, and the question is whether
hardy, cold resistant varieties could
not be produced by selective breeding
tLat would give Alaskans all the fresh
luAures from their garden that "the
states have.
There are farms in the Colorado
mountains near Denver that have an
elevation of nearly 10000 feet and the
conditions at this altitude in Colorado
are almost identical with conditions at
1000 feet elevation near the Arctic
circle. That is, the days are warm and
sunshiny, but the nights are always
cold even in summer, while the severe
winters are apt to kill all but the har-
diest perennials-plants that have
been brought up to that sort of thing.
bill was recently introduced into
congress for the establishment of just
such work in Colorado and also for
experiments that would breed drouth-
resistant vegetables for the desert.
The methods employed in this ex-
perimental work are exceedingly inter
esting. If, for instance, it was decid-
ed TO find wheat that would mature
in very cold climate like that in the
hill country north of the Arctic cir
Gle, this is how it would be done:
First, the hardest seed of all the
hardest varieties would be obtained
from Russia, Scandinavia, Canada
and Alaska. Then it would be plant
ed in place where it would be un-
likely to mature. There might be just
one stalk that, from some mysterious
strain of breeding or force of cireum-
stance, would stand unharmed by the
autumn frosts It's seed would he
treasured and the next year each grain
would be carefully planted and guard
ed so that the strain should be increas
ed, and still further and severer tests
made on it until it was so hardened
] 4La4 ELL animal