Evening star., 1914-10-24
DEPT. OF AGR1CULTURE.

Secretary Houston left Washington this
week for the middle west. He is to speak
October 26 before the National Live Stock
Association at Chicago He will then do
little campaigning in Missouri.
Assistant Secretary vrooman has also
left the city. He is in Illinois cam
paigning.
The golden cedar of Lebanon. at the
corner of the terrace on the right looking
out of the Secretary's window, was up
rooted Wednesday afternoon. Onlookers
estimated that there must have been at
least a ton of earth on it's roots. The
cedar was taken out for fear of accidents
at the intersection of the roads.
James G. Shibley, executive officer of
the insecticide and fungicide board. says
one of the new French windows recently
installed in his office has slight eng
lish" on it, in billiard parlance. In view
Of the alliance of powers in Europe, this
seems not inappropriate. The windows
are now backed with green blinds, which
enchant the general effect very much
A. A. Ormsby, assistant chief clerk of
the department.. and James J. Tobin,
expert in road economics, were the
first of the departmental delegates who
Wichita, Kan, to return to Washing
ton. They returned to duty Wednesday.
A Kansas cyclone that passed be-
tween the towns Of Anthony and Ell
dorado. tearing up few farmhouses
and killing four people. was one of the
sights witnessed by Mr.. Ormsby. He
was in an automobile several miles
from the path Of the storm. He took
several pictures of 1t.
Visitors to his Office these days are
shown samples of kaff1r feterita and
milo maise, which he has upon his
desk, and from beneath it Mr.. Ormsby
will produce bag of kafilr flour, which
he says Is pretty good sort of food
stuff.
Dry farming, Mr.. Ormsby explained,
is farming carried on in countries
where not more than twelve inches of
rain falls during a year. Out in Kan
sas this sort of agriculture is con-
Quoted very successfully. At the ex-
position in Wichita all sorts of prod
ucts were shown, and many exhibits of
allied industries.
The department had experts from its
various bureaus at the exposition, who
in the roned-off section Of two blocks
in which the exposition was held. The
exhibit of the bureau of animal indus
try proved one of the greatest attrac-
tions. with its dairy farm, concrete silo.
etc.
ALI nations Of the world. almost, had
representatives. at the congress. most
of them being sent from the embassies
in this country. Other exhibits that
were especially pleasing were those of
roads, grains and the forest service.
Mr.. Ormsby took over 200 pictures
while on the trip, several of which he
intends to enlarge, notably the picture
of the cyclone.
Mrs. NJ F. Stafford of the bureau of
crop estimates returned to duty Mon
day after a short vacation.
rSryy
eral days in the middle Of the week.
The wheat crop Of Europe is about
30O,000,000 bushels short of last years
harvest, according to an official of the
department who knows of such things.
tin of Agricultural and Commercial
Statistics, from the International In
stitute OF Agriculture at Rome, has
just arrived at the department.
production in France is not settled by
the Bulletin" says the official. In
1913 the production of wheat in France
was 321,000.00O bushels. This year
there has been very much doubt about
the crop. Undoubtedly the crop Of
in the shock before the war began. But
the northern half of the country is the
most important from this standpoint,
and it has been entirely overrun by
THAT all this wheat has been totally
destroyed I cannot believe. OF course
where armies march over the waving
grain 1t Is destroyed. but 1 do not be-
lieve any army would wantonly de-
stroy the grain in the shock. There
fore. the harvest perhaps is not a loss
in northern France, from the uniI
versal viewpoint. OF course the French
people will look upon their grain that
feeds a German army as worse than
lost"
The wheat crop of France has been
officially cabled as 296. 100000 bushels.
This, however. is the estimate which
was made several months ago, per-
haps before the war, it is pointed out,
as the getting of such estimates takes
time.
Middleton Smith of the bureau of
crop estimates returned to the Office
Monday after a short vacation.
Miss Edna A. Thomas of the bureau
of crop estimates started her vacation
Wednesday, to extend through the
week.