The Glenwood post., 1924-05-22
Uncle Tets Bed Time Stories
Current Events for tho Childrss
and Grown-ups, Too
WHAT ONE GOVERNMENT
DEPARTMENT DOES FOR Us ALI

U6TA6IM6NI DUES kOk Us ALL
Uncle Ted had been home for some
time. He arrived early, some little
while before supper, and was sitting
on the front porch enjoying the long
twilight of a beautiful spring evening.
But there was something wrong. He
tried to read the newspaper. He
picked it up and put it down again.
What was wrong? 1t wouldn't have
taken anyone very long to figure
that out. Uncle Ted was lonesome for
his pals, and they weren't home.
Ruth and Jack had been out in the
old churchyard with some of their
Easter baskets, now serving as carriers
for all sorts of wild flowers. There
we're dandelions, violets, forget-me-
nots and kinds that neither of the kid
dies knew. What great punches they
had collected!
"I think we'd better be starting
home. 1t must be mighty close to sup
per time the way I feel. I'm hungry"
said Jack.
"I think we had better start any
way" replied Ruth.
And it wasn't long before Uncle
Ted was jumping to his feet as four
little arms went around his neck and
woke him from his lonesome dreams.
"Where have you two rascals been?"
he asked.
"Can't you guessi" queried Jack.
''Looks like the woods and flower
picking expedition. Makes me think
that a story about the bureau of plant
industry and other interesting bureaus
Of the department of agriculture
wouldn It be amiss.''
"That would be great said Jack.
So after supper the hree chums were
gathered together on the front porch in
the big, comfy swing.
.tNo one probably realizes, except
the farmers themselves, what the de-
partment of agriculture and its vari-
GUS bureaus have done for the whole
country. Just take the bureau of
plant industry, one of the many bureaus
coming under the leadership of Secre-
tary of Agriculture Wallace There
was a citrus canker that spread
through the states bordering on the
Gulf of Mexico. Fruit growers there
had spent $4O0,OOOOOO and every cent
of that investment was in danger from
this plant disease. The investigations
of this bureau have resulted in almost
destroying this disease.
''The wheat grower mas had to suf-
fer the loss of thousands of bushels of
wheat because of what is known as
the wheat rust. One year the result
from this disease was the loss of 200,-
100000 bushels of wheat! Just think
of 1t. The bureau of plant industry
has conducted and is still conducting a
fighting campaign against this disease
and has accomplished wonders. This
work means the saving to the farmers
of millions of dollars each year. Be-
cause numbers of plant insects that
cause destruction were being brought
into the country, laws were passed,
known as plant quarantine laws. The
result is that since the passage of
these laws, not one real bad pest has
been brought into the United States.
"When we go into a grocery store
and see many fancy fruits we do not
realize that these have been made pos.
sible because men from this bureau
have gone to foreign lands and
searched for new plants, fruits, etc.,
that could be made to grow in Il
United States. Plants and seeds have
come from about every place in the
world. The Washington navel orange,
the one that is so easy to peel, is one
fruit brought in and now raised in
the United States. 1t came from Bra
I'll. Today, although only two of the
original twenty trees are still growing,
about s,0O0,000 boxes of these oranges
are shipped from California every year.
1.-The alligator pear that makes such
a fancy salad was imported. Durum
wheat was imported. Today about
100000 bushels are raised each year
worth about $4,000, 900. The most