Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1923-09-30
by JAMES A. BUCHANAN.

many Shdh6Se so
the manner in which we
live. many changes in the
kinds Of food that we eat,
the food that Cur domestic animals
eat. and the way we value food prod
ucts. OF course, these changes do
not come overnight nor are they &C
complished in month or a year.
They are the results of experiments
that have been carried on for a num-
Der OF years. Earnest and energetic
men of the Department of Agrtcul-
ture have been diligently searching
the odd places of the world to ind
new plants, seeds or trees that might
give us new foods-perhaps old to
some parts of the world, but not to
US. In addition, these explorers have
had ever uppermost in their minds
the food value that was to be gained
by the introduction of the new ar
ticIes. and they have also been ac-
tuated by the desire to get some
thing that would grow and be an
additional source of revenue to our
people.
They have plunged into the dense
jungles, have traversed great areas.
have undergone hardships and put up
with inconveniences, but these men
of science, through all. have had for
their motto the word service"
One of the things that bothered
them was the fact that the old meth
DDS of few years ago were too
slow. The desired results did not
come quickly enough to suit them.
They cast about for another and
faster method. with the result that
systematic plant introduction by the
Department Of Agriculture has given
to US many new and useful plants
and foods.
Behind this desire also was the
thought of preventing food shortages,
for when diseases of staple crops
appear and cannot be controlled, sub
stftute crops must be provided.
TOR a number of years past the
J. department has, through its
trained corps, been working on the
problem of finding and getting, new
crop plants. Of course, the men who
are sent out have to make a most
exhaustive study of the foods used
by men in foreign land Lnd the foods
that nourish their doGlfstic animals.
Not alone do they make the study
of what mankind already has, no
matter in what part of the globe 1t
may be. They go into the jungles,
hack their way through forests. for
new trees and other things that
are perhaps relatives of the cultiv-
ated fruits that we have. and they
bring home to US many things that
are useful in the crossing of
varieties. useful to such an extent
that those W. have been cultivating
take on an s~ided strength and per-
haps new and more palatable flavor.
The man who sits contentedly
down to a table in his home and has
the best that the market affords may
say that this is merely a catering
to the palate. but there is a financial
side to 1t tl-at we must not overlook.
Casting arsund. we find that more
than s100,GJ0,000 a year represents
the value to the farmer of only
few of the most successful of these
crops that have been brought in
by the scientists.
Some ctusty person who still lives
In the az of tallow dips, while the
rest of LIS are using high-powered
electric lights, may say there is great
danger of bringing in insects. par
asites, forms of blight or other in
furious things that will ruin our
crops aad cause a great food short
age, bpt he reckons not wisely, for
the imported seeds and plants are
a.
scrutiny of the experts of the Federal
Horticultural Board, who discover
and eliminate any plant or insect
pests.
These importations are kept in
strict quarantine and sometimes a
year elapses before they are taken
out. Before this strict supervision
came into being any one could bring