The Donaldsonville chief. [volume] (Donaldsonville, La.) 1871-current, 1912-04-06

v WIN s~ The globe, with its kaleldo-
4 4 ( NkAaSW Il scopic panorama OF people,
\ IA EAySHM \ animals and plants, mas
w. VhI been whrled before you,
4 - ----------- AZ it were, and you have in
your minds the picture OF a
bali circling through space, covered VIII
film of plants, animals, and men IN eonstan.
change So varied is this film Oh plants 'nA'
There are probably half million distinct spe-
oGc forms In 1t, and yet man uses only d 10"
Hundreds for his own purposes.
To change In a measure the Distribution
or the really useful plants Of the world is what
the office Of foreign seed and plant introduc-
4;on Of the Department OF Agriculture IS uy
3np tn do The motive underlying THIS "orh
might he called the ambition to make lhe
world more habitable. II one IS Inclined 70
be pessimistic with regard to the looo supply
of the world, he has only to talk TO any one
of the enthusiasts Of the Department OF Asri-
culture to get a picture OF the widening VISTA
Of agricultural possibilities which Wouid 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
che relative performance OF different plants.
We may not always grow the plants we do
now Some Ct them are expensive food pro-
fducers some produce foods that are dlt1cull
to digest, and some we may leave behlnd as
we learn to like others better.
What to grow was not SO serious ques-
fion to the early Phoenician peasant, VINO
knew perhaps a dozen crops, as 1t is becoming
to the American agricuturist. who can pick
from the crops of all the world the one best
suited to his land and climate. Changes come
80 rapidly nowadays that If a man today talks
OF "pears' he may mean what are ordinarily
thought of as pears, or he may refer to ALL
gator pears which he IS growing in Florida,
or prickly pears which he is cult1vatlpg IN
Texas Both the alligator pear and the prlckly
near have come In as crops to be reckoneu
with within the past fifteen years, and already
the stock-raisers of the South are wondering
If they should plant spiny or spineless forms
of the prickly pear cactus. and the fruit
growers OF Florida are inquring as to which
of the several varieties of alligator pear tree
ia 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 a systematic way and as
a. distinct activity Of the department in 1897,
It has barely touched the fringe OF its posi-
bilities The $1,000 different plant immigrants
which have come in, and have either died or
are now growing somewhere in this country,
represent small beginning only, and have
merely helped to show the greatness of the
possibilities which progress in agricultural re-
search Is creating.
s'You will soon have all the crops in is
che remgeek Of those who have given the mat
ter littIdIthought. Our own lives change with
every moment Of time. and so do the lives OF
plants The strains of potato which our
srandfathers 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 thou
sand different forms.
In whatever parts Of the world new forms
may spring into existence it matters not; oul
yotatogrowers should be able to try every
sort of Importance and every wild, hardy spe
eies whether It comes from the manse Of {
Scottish parson, Is discovered as a wild spe
cIes along the Paraguay river by an American
railway bridge builder, Is found among thu
mountains of Colombia by Jesuit priest, i
gathered by a forest ranger In the dry region
of an Indian reservation in New Mexico, o
Is secured by trained collector from tn
Chloe Islands off the coast OF Chile. 1t make
little difference; they must ali come in a
plant immigrants to show what they can d
in the gardens Of American experts. Their
is always the chance that they may be throw
out as Improbable; but, if they have desrabl
characters, they can be blended with other:
or exploited with others, if they are superio
for any of the potato regions OF this country.
1t may be new TO many that every day plar
Immigrants from different parts of the worl
arrive in washington, and every day, throug
the mails, hundreds of these disinfected a
rivals go out to find new home in some pal
Of tho country.
1t is difficult matter 10 give an adequa1
smnression of the magnitude and importane
10 the country of this stream Of new plant IL
migrants which for II years has been pourin