St. Johnsbury Caledonian. [volume] (St. Johnsbury, Vt.) 1867-1919, 1911-10-04
RAISE HIPPOPOTAM.
Cong. PIumley Tells Commercial
Club About Efforts of Govern
ment to Increase Meat Supply.

The meeting of the Commercial
club last Thursday evening was
very pleasant and successful one.
There was a good gathering of rep
resentative business men in Pythian
Hall to greet Congressman Plum
ley and A. r. Dunn of Scranton,
Pa, and they gave some interesting
talks.
President Rickaby introduced
Congressman PlHmley who spoke
first of the Importance of town or
ganizations like the present one and
stated that If Vermont was to make
as much progress in the next SO
years as it had in the past so it
must be through live business or
ganizations.,
| Then he announced he would tell
something of what the agricultural
committee of the national house of
representatives was doing and gave
an account of the efforts to increase
the varieties of meat pFoducuing an
imals in this country to ensure a
sufficient supply of meat at a rea-
sonable price to supply the constant
ly increasing demand.
Must Have More Meat.
The meat problem in this country
! is a serious one and unless new sup
plies are found we must get along
with a much less quantity than at
present There was an actual fall
ing off in the production of meat
| in this country from 1890 to 1900.
During that period there was an in
crease of eight per cent. in the pro-
duction of swine but falling off
of 9S per cent In cattle, 2.2 per
cent in sheep and 35 per cent. in
fowls. During that period our pop
ulation increased 20 per cent.
During the decade of 1900
| 10 there was still greater falling
off in meat production and a greater
increase in population. The aver
age consumption of meat in this
country is one-half pound per per-
SON per day which means 46,000,-
| 600 pounds of meat a day and over
1 ,0O0,0OO,O00 pounds a year. If
we continue to grow as fast in the
next century as we have in the past
we must either greatly increase our
meat supply or do without it.
One scheme for increasing the
meat supply has come about through
a bill introduced by Congressman
Broussard of Louisiana. He report
ed that in the gulf states the lakes
and rivers were rapidly becoming
unnavigable on account of the great
growth of the water hyacinth. It
is not only clogging the navigable
waters but it is killing the fish as
it is a great consumer of air which
it transforms into a gas that
smothers the fish and they die. This
hyacinth will grow about 40 tons to
an acre during the year, and the
government has spent thousands of
dollars early in an attempt to era
dicate it.
Work for the Hippo.
DIR. Irwin has discovered in his,
Investigations that the hippopota-
mus thrives on the water hyacinth
and keeps it cleared from the wat
er. He clears it to such an extent
that the waters become habitable
for the fish. A young hippopotamus
will gain about 100 pounds a month
until he reaches a weight of four
or five tons. The meat is delicious
being cross between beef and
pork The fat of the hippopota-
mus makes an oil that the best
French manufacturers of perfum-
cry prefer to any thing else. In
South Africa the hippopotamus has
been to the immigrant what the buf-
falo was to the American immigrant.
The area Of water hyacinth is equal
to about two-thirds the area of YER
mont so it is evident the raising Of
hippoptami for food purposes has
great possibilities.
America is far behind the old
world, especially Australia, in the
development of new kinds of meat
producing animals. This country has
great stretches of territory that are
now useless that would support the
yak, the rhinoceros and the giraffe
and these animals have already been
domesticated and used for food pur-
poses in other countries. We must
begin to prepare for future demands
for meat. The real cause of high
prices for meat today is the reduc-
tion of the supply and the increasing
demand.
The farmers Uplift.
He then told how the farmers of
Illinois have formed a Bankers
Farmers Association which is study
ing methods of securing capital and
developing the methods of agri-
culture so that the state may be-
come the leading agricultural state
of the union. The prosperity of all
towns and cities depends to a large
extent on agriculture. Make agri-
culture attractive and prosperous
and the centers of population will
prosper. Vermont is not taking full
advantage of government aid in the
development of agriculture. The
government is spending $25O,0O01
yearly for the development of agri-
culture It has in the Southwest
10000 development farms in as
many counties 1t also has 10000
cooperative farmers where the
farmer promises to cultivate a plot
of land near the highway according
to the direction of the government
farm experts and 437 field inspectors