The Ely miner., 1912-03-22

your minds the picture OF a
ball circling through space, covered with
film of plants animals, and men in constant
change So varied is this film Of plants that
there are probably half million distinct, spe-
cific forms in it, and yet man uses only few
hundreds for his own purposes.
To change in a measure, the distribution
of the really useful plants Of the world is what
the office of foreign seed and plant introduc-
ton of the Department Of Agriculture is try
ing to do. The motive underlying this work
might be called the ambition to make the
world more habitable. If one is inclined to
be pessimistic with regard to the food supply
of the world, he has only to talk to any one
OF the enthusiasts Of the Department of Agri-
culture to get picture Of the widening vista
Of agricultural possibilities which would make
him realize that the food problems OF the race
are not hung in the balance Of our great plains
area, and that the food-producing power OF
the world is still practically unknown, because
we have just begun to study in modern way
the relative performance Of different plants.
We may not always grow the plants we do
row. Some of them are expensive food pro-
duccrs, some produce foods that are difficult
to digest, and some we may leave behind as
We learn TO like others better
What to grow was not so serious a Ques
tion to the early Phoenician peasant, who
kaew perhaps dozen crops, as 1t is becoming
to the American agriculturist, who pick
from the crops of all the world the one best
suited to his land and climate. Changes come
so rapidly nowadays that if a man today talks
of pears" he may mean what are ordinarily
thought of as pears or he may refer 70 alli-
gator pears which he is growing in Florida,
or prickly pears which he is cultivating in
Texas. Both the alligator pear and the prickly
pear have come in crops to be reckoned
with within the past fifteen years, and already
the stock-raisers of the South are wondering
IF they should plant spny or spineless forms
Of the prickly pear cactus, and the fruit
growers OF Florida are inquiring as to which
of the several varieties of alligator pear tree
is going to be the most productive and profit
able.
To help find the plant which will produce
the best results of any that can be grown, on
every acre of land in the United States, is, in
general, the broad policy Of the Office Of seed
and plant introduction Of the bureau Of plant
industry.
Although begun in systematic way and as
a distinct activity Of the department in 1897
It has barely touched the fringe of its posi-
biities The 81 900 different plant immigrants
which have come in, and have either died or
are now growing somewhere in this country,
represent a small beginning only and have
merely helped to show the greatness Of the
possibilities which progress in agricultural re-
search is creating.
"You will soon have all the crops in," is
the remark of those who have given the mat
ter little thought Our own lives change with
every moment of time, and so do the lives OF
plants The strains of potato which our
grandfathers grew are, with few exceptions,
different from the strains in vogue today; and,
fitting their lives into the various conditions
of soil and climate, the original wild South
American species of potato. Solanum tube
rosum assumes in the hands of men a thou
sand different forms.
In whatever parts Of the world new forms
may spring into existence 1t matters not; our
potatogrowers should be able to try every
sort of Importance and every wild, hardy spe-
cies, whether 1t comes from the manse of a
Scottish parson. is discovered as wild spe-
cies along the Paraguay river by an American
railway bridge builder, is found among the
mountains of Colombia by Jesuit priest, is
gathered by forest ranger in the dry regions
of an Indian reservation in New Mexico, or
is secured by trained collector from the
Chloe Islands off the coast of Chile. 1t makes
little difference; they must all come in as
plant immigrants to show what they can do
in the gardens Of American experts. There
is always the chance that they may be thrown
out as improbable; but if they have desirable
characters, they can be blended with others,
or exploited with others, If they are superior
for any of the potato regions or this country.
It may be new to many that every day plant
immigrants from different parts Of the world
arrive in Washington, and every day. through
the malls, hundreds of these disinfected ar
rivals go out to find new home in some part
of the country
II is a difficult matter to give an adequate
impression of the magnitude and importance
to the country of this stream Of new plant i'm
migrants which for IA years has been pouring