Evening star., 1933-12-24
AGRICULTURE BULLETIN
EXPLAINS MAKING OF WINE
Scientists So Detached in Duty They Did
Not See Comedy in Dry Gov
ernment's Action.

Since the French irnplement-makers
were unable to rescue our vineyards in
the way in which the American wild
grape had rescued French vineyards,
DR.. Galloway and his assistants had to
resort to Yankee ingenuity.
Which they did, and with considerable
success. In the Journal Of Mycology
for September, 1890, there appeared an
extensive and highly practical article
on the new knapsack sprayer which had
been perfected by the departments
scientists. After naming two firms
which had agreed to manufacture it.
the scientist-inventor commented. from
the fullness of experience, LAS a rule
we find that the men who Use machines
of this kind wait until the last moment
before sending for them, consequently
they are anxious to have their orders
filled promptly which, so far as our
experience goes, is never done"
For the benefit Of growers who were
able TO manufacture their own sprayers,
there were pages Of working drawings
and specifications, crowned with a final
page showing a bearded gentleman, dig
nifled and stately, operating the finished
product in his vineyard. The growers,
it seems, were well pleased with the new
Sprayer, and only last year, DR.. Gallo
way says he noticed some of the same
bJPC Va hA40HoclGh oPA dJC1o OOWA Al b4AC
Canal Zone used for spraying swampy
land with kerosene in the perpetual
battle with malarial mosquitoes.
/ have recalled this service to the
grape industry because it was typical
of the unsensational but useful work of
Government scientists of an earlier day,
and because it was an incident in the
life OF one of that corps Of distinguished
elder scientists whose contributions
continue even after their pay stops
DR.. Galloway, like several others in
the Department of Agriculture, declines
TO quit active research simply because
he has reached the age when retire
ment from the pay roll is compulsory;
long member of the Office of Plant
Introduction, he will continue to eX-
anime new plants as they are brought
In from foreign lands. study their utili-
zat1on under American physical and
economic conditions, and observe par
ticularly their resistance or lack of re-
sistance to disease. He will divide his
time between headquarters in Wash
ington and his Winter home on small
tract in Florida, and will continue to
give to agriculture the benefit of his
researches.
From 1887 to 1893 is a long period
OF service in any one field. DR.. Gallo
way was continually being called from
his researcheS-to his annoyance,
have no doubt-to administrative work
within the Department of Agriculture
and also, for two years, to the deanship
OF agriculture at Cornell He was large
ly responsible for the creation of the
Bureau of Plant Industry from several
independent, uncorrelated divisions en-
gagged in plant research, and he served
as chief of the bureau from 1901 to
1912 under that colorful Iowan, Tama
Jim Wilson Then came a year or SO
as Assistant Secretary of Agriculture
under Houston in the Wilson admins
trati0n, followed by his two years at
Cornell, after which he came back to
the department and to the research he
evidently liked best of all.
Plant Chief to Retire.
His retirement this Winter comedies
with the retirsment of the present dis
tinguished chief OF the Bureau of Plant
Industry, DR.. William A. Taylor, who is
in turn succeeded by another scientist
and plant hunter from the Ofice of
Plant Introductions, Mr.. Knowles Ryer-
| son. a colleague of DR.. Galloway.
Exactly how many Government scien-
lists there may be who have continued
their research in the public behalf after
| their official retirement, it would be
difficult to say; but there are enough
to inspire the rest of us with a new
sense of the dignity and the nobility
which can distinguish Government
service.
The honor and the glory-or at any
rate the headlines-seem to 60 to the
administrators Who move in every four
or eight years. They can, of course,
contribute something to the continuing
work OF the Government departments,
and this is specially true in a period,
IKE the present, when our economic
world Is growing for a new direction;
but for the spirit which informs Gov
ment service at its best, We must look,
l suspect, to the scientists and the ad-
n1nistrators who have devoted their
lives to it.
Copyright, 1889