The Mena weekly star., 1912-05-02
REMARKABLE
ACHIEVEMENTS
Review OF Work Accomplished in
Department of Agriculture Dur
ing Past Fifteen Years in Fea-
lures OF Interest TO Arkansas


reaus justifies the soicitude on the
lpart Of the ptesidrli for the le-
lpartmenl. IA aling for these re-
ports he secretary asked that
they be brief and that they mention
notable achievements &c the last
five years only. nasmuch as that
period Is really the period Of fFai-
tion in the department. IT, period
during which, owing TO the broad
foundations previously laid by the
training and grouping Of many
corps Of men. by securing far
Preaching legislation. by gathering
together masses of statistics and
other information, by providing
scientific and other equipment it
has been possible to produce most
marvellous results for the common
good Of the people Of the United
States.
Distribution Of Information.
These results could moi have
been accomplished had the aetiyi-
lies Of The department ceased With
the making Of scientific inyestiga-
tions and the discovery Of new and
Important information. Fortunate
~, the organic law made as em-
! phallc The dissemination OF infor-
nation among the people as it did
The acquisition OF facts. Nor has
that part Of the work been neglect
ed. for il has been we'll understood
that unless the former knew what
the scientist discovered no real
| progress could be made.
Practically 200,000,000 pubIica-
tions Of all kinds have been printed
an distributed since Secretary VIII
son assumed control OF ihe Depart
ment. and more than half 103, sos,
49, Of that number have seem dis
iributed within lhe last ike years.
-Four hundred and fifty difierent
pamphlets, discussing subjects Of
special interest to farmers and OK
lpressed in terms understood ay all
have been issued. and 100000
copies have been placed in the
hands OF applicants mostly farm
eIs who had need Of the informa-
ton they contained; and Of these
over 39,000000 were distributed
within the last five years.
The magnitude of This work of
disseminating the information so
earnestly sought and SO carefully
verified is only measurable by the
immense advance in scientific agri-
cultural knowledge and practice by
the progressive farmers OF the
country-a result IN which the de-
parlment has been 4 dominant fac
tor. More than 27,00000O copies Of
publications of all kinds were dis
tributed during the last fiscal year.
Weather Warnings and Climate.
The reports made to the secre-
tary show that the department now
sends out daily and weekly fore
casts of weather and temperatures
covering the whole country. BY the
lpFess, by telegraph, by mail, and by
telephone the forecasts reach every
hamlet in the land: by telephone
alone they reach four and a half
millions of people. mainly on the
farms. When a frost, a flood or a
hurricane impends timely notice is
given the region threatened. Warm
ings of a single hurricane have
been known to detain in port ship
ping valued at s30.000000, and those
of one cold wave to result in pre-
venting the destruction of nearly
Si,000000 worth of property, Fruit
growers and those engaged in the
sugar, cranberry and early truck
industries now regard the warnings
as indispensable. Climatic data
gathered for years enables the de-
partment TO advise accurately any
man who contemplates living in a
given region; this, indeed, is true Of
other data as those on soils, vcge-
tation, on live stock growing, on the
availability of markets, on the pre-
vaience OF insect pests and on the
character of the roads.
Livestock Protection.
IN 1906 Secretary Wilson became
convinced that southern cattle
ticks, causing loss OF from 40 to
80 millions a year, could be exter-
minated. Congress gave the money
and the department has already
eradicated the ticks from 10000
square miles, an area larger than
Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi
enhancing the value of both cattle
and Of land. Under other live
stock laws the department has
cleared large areas in the west of
sheep scab and cattle mango. In
1903 it stamped out with most
satisfactory thoroughness and ee-
lerity an outbreak of foot-and-
mouth disease that, unchecked.
would in short order have damaged
intellectually the live stock Of the
country. Hog cholera, for which
there have been myriad so-ealled
remedies, and none of them of
value, has yielded to a serum per-
fected by scientist of the depart
ment and patented in the name of
the American people. Attacked in
the laboratory and in the field by
every device known to science. tu-
berculosis. the most deadly Of AMI
NAL. as Of human. diseases. will IN
time likewise yield, although there !
Is much and strenuous work yet 10 |
be done. Showing the farmer scien- /
tliic methods Of breeding and feed /
ing his horses. cows. hogs, sheep /
a.