The Idaho Republican. [volume] (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1904-1932, 1924-12-18
Cockroach Protected
From Indigestion By
Government Experts

Washington. = Everything from
trapping the boil weevil in his lair
to painting the orange for nature, is
now being done by the United States
government
Means have also been adopted for
depriving the lowly water-bug or
cockroach from his favorite banquet
on the binding of books.
Hearings held behind closed doors
when the house appropriations COM
mlttee had under consideration the
department of agriculture bill have
been made public here, simultan-
eously with favorable report to the
mouse on an appropriation bill for
that department Of $124,6S7,715 for
the new fiscal year.
Testimony given by government
scientists, when they appeared to
argue for particular items in which
they were interested, shows the
scope of the operations of the de-
partment, ranging from the busting
of cotton by airplanes in the south
to the preservation of the reindeer
herd in Alaska.
Even the diseases of the honey bee
are a matter of concern and unceas-
ing labor to men in the department
of agricultureS and the members of
congress were told that bees ought
not to be reared early in the sea-
son" because they work themselves
to death in six weeks The ideal
arrangement for the bee keeper is
for him to time his operations. so
that the maximum production of
bees comedies with the time that the
flowers are secreting nectar
Genuine interest was manifested
by the legislators in the revelation
by government scientists of what is
being done in the way of crop chem
istry; how fruit is being made to
look more attractive by coloring, of
how fluids are being distilled from
the cotton plant to attract and pois-
on the boil weevil, just as wood al
cohol is distilled and kills human |
beings who are attracted to it, They |
are even experimenting to make the
growing of tobacco under cloth in |
the fields more effective by giving
the cloth longer life through |
chemical treatment
Everything from raisins to eggs is
being standardized, and means of re-
ducing the heat in fruit as we'll as
utilizing it after it has been frozen,
are being worked out by the depart
ment experts.
DR.. Charles A. Browne, chief of
the bureau of chemistry in the de-
partment of agricult re, told about
the unique results being obtained
through experimentation.
The bureau has perfected
method of following maturing citrus
fruits" he said. 1T very often hap
pens that citrus fruit is perfectly
ripe, and yet may have a green color
and therefore not be generally ac-
ceptable to the public. We have
perfected method, by the use of
ethylne, which gives a yellow color
to the mature citrus fruit This
method is being used generally in
California, and is displacing the old
sweat room, kerosene stove process.
"Of course, there can be an ILL
Ultimate use made of this process,
and some illigitimate use is being
made in coloring green fruit, but we
have means of controlling that
through a chemical test We get the
ratio of solids to acids"
DR.. Browne told the committee
that the experiments Of the bureau
had demonstrated it was the smell
Of the cotton plant that attracted
he boil weevil.
DR.. Browne said that the bureau
If chemistry had found that by add
ng from 100 to $50 pounds of sod
UNI nitrate an acre to land the pro-
elm content of wheat can be raised
rom l to 6 per cent, and that the :
armer receives 10 cents a bushel
more for his wheat for every addi-
ional one per cent of protein. The