Brownsville herald. [volume] (Brownsville, Tex.) 1910-current, 1912-09-27
EXPERIMENT STATION
At OLD FORT BROWN
WILL BEGIN WITH VERY VAL
UABLE PLANT
And Will be One of the Finest in
United States, But Texas Will
Have to Cooperate With Govern
ment to Secure 1t.

Washington, d. g., Sept 26.-
Texas is not being overlooked by the
department of agriculture in plans
now being perfected for increasing
the agricultural output of this
country, judging by the hearty re-
sponse to the requests Of Prof
lYoungblood Of the Texas agricul-
tural station at-the Agricultural and
Mechanical college during his visit
to Washington last week.
Not only is the work of expert
nienting with various varieties of
sugar cane to be fostered by the gov
ernment, but if the state of Texas
shows a disposition to cooperate in
the proper degree. one of the finest
experiment stations in the whole
country will soon be blossoming
forth at Brownsville on the site of
I old Fort Brown.
\ Secretary Wilson made il clear
4 that Texas has an important part to
perform in this work Of advancing
/ the interests of the farmers and a
vigorous demand is going TO be made
upon the next state legislature for
an adequate appropriation to ms.ke
possible the completion Of tks very
ambitious plans Of Prof. y5ungblood
and Commissioner of Agriculture Ed
r. Kone. At the last session of the
Farmers Corsf6ss. the cattlemen
/ Joined with the tillers of the soil in
a petition which will go before the
! legislature asking for a careful con-
l sideration Of the plans for extend
ing the work Of the substations Of
he agricultural experiment station
which has its headquarters at the
4 Agricultural and Mechanical college.
When it was announced that the
war department had no further use
Of Fort Brown and it was turned
over to the interior department in
order to relieve the war department
Of the cost of maintaining the prop
erty and steps We're taken for the
sale OF the property, Congressman
Garner asked that some forty acres
I be given to the city Of Brownsville
| for use as park and for hospital
purposes. If this request is COM
1lied with, it will not in the least
4 interfere with the scheme for the
| development here of a great agricul-
tural experiment station. The fort
property comprises some 800 acres
! If excellent soil, over 100 acres of
which is now under cultivation. It's
value may be well estimated when
one considers the prices which river
valley lands are now bringing in
that section of South Texas In adj
dition TO this, there are buildings
upon it representing an expenditure
Of from SIS. 200 to $4,000 These
buildings were erected under the su-
! Dervision Of z. G. Green when the
government chose this site as a sta
tion for the introduction of tropical
and sensi-tropical plants into this
country. They were all built with
the view to permancency and all will
be turned over to the state of Texas
;f 81 onroop,oot non ha Soourod Nv
which the state will agree to bear
half the cost of maintaining the sta
ton. It would provide the experts
with a much better plant than IL
now possessed at College Station,
which is the state headquarters for
this work.
The plant in reduction work at
Brownsville was abandoned by the
federal government for the reason
that it is above the frost line and
because Of the presence Of cotton
root rot, which made 1t impossible to
transplant cotton and other plants
in other Southern states without
running the risk of spreading that
malady, although Texas farmers
have no fear of it and have been able
to combat it successfully. Expert
ments with sugar cane can. how
ever, be carried on here with the ut
most success, as Prof. Green has al
ready demonstrated He imported
from the West Indies variety OF
sugar cane which took most kindly
to the Rio Grande Valley soil and
produced 212 pounds of sugar to the
ton as compared with the production
Of $50 10 175 pounds Of sugar from
the variety OF cane commonly grown
in Texas. This cane If properly dis
tributed would mean an enormous
gain for the cane growers OF Texas,
as there are now 10000 acres given
over to cane production The i'm
ported cane would net an increase Of
fcontinued On pag9 gix