White Bluffs spokesman. [volume] (White Bluffs, Wash.) 1907-1938, 1933-04-27

How 1t Operates
BY William B,xckaxs
DEPARTMENT OF
AGRICULTURE

AGRICULTURE
| CASUAL visitors to the Capital City
~ Of the nation seldom receive sug.
gestions from natives of Washington
that they should visit the Department
of Agriculture. The native here will
freely point out places to see and the
things of interest that a tourist SHOULD
not MISS" but the suggestions almost
never include the Department of Agri-
culture.
It is more easily understood than
It appears. Except for the gardens
and a greenhouse or two over which
the department has supervision, there
is little appeal for the tourist in that
part Of the department located in
Washington, large as that section real
~ is.
The answer, simply stated, to the
circumstance is that the Department
of Agriculture operates the greatest
laboratories in the world, but they
are scattered throughout the nation
that they can be near to the problems
they seek to solve. The experimental
farms serve to illustrate the point.
That farm in your state is located
where it is for very practical reason.
the same being that it is attempting
to develop some kind of agricultural
product of especial fitness for the con-
ditions Of soil and climate under
which you live.
But l would not have you under
stand that the department has only
this method Of serving the farmers.
Although their work lacks the appeal
that is required to attract sightseers,
the vast offices of the department in
washington are thoroughly filled with
men and women and with equip
ment as each one Of them proceeds to
work out some new factor in connec-
ton with plant and animal life. PEG.
pie are too prone to think of the de-
partment only in connection with
wheat and cotton and corn and cattle
and hogs, etc. AS matter Of fact, it's
other work is more basic.
Let me relate the circumstance of
one office as an illustration. Presiding
over it is small man, German by
birth but an immigrant to America at
an early age. He is highly educated,
uses many terms in conversation that
go far over my humble head, and plods
along with his studies.
And what does he study? Peat, peat
boys, uses of peat, how to use peat
lands.
He Is recognized throughout the
world as an authority on peat, and
slowly but surely out of the vast re-
searches that he has made and is max
ing is coming information that will re-
suit In utilization of millions of acres
or land that is looked upon now by
those residing near as not worth the
taxes its owners have to pay. 1t may
be interesting to note in this connec-
ton that this peat expert has estab-
lished the value of peat as fer
tilizer and that in consequence it
won't be many years until truck farm
ers will be buying peat to mix with
the soil of their farms the better to
produce their crops
The individual about whom ! have
written above is just one cog in a
great machine, known in the depart
ment as the bureau Of chemistry and
soils, an agency of earnest men and
women seeking facts. Scientists, they
are, and scientists they will remain,
and while specifically their work may
be made the subject of laughter and
by-play, agricultural life of America
owes much to them.
For instance out OF the constant in
vestigating that goes on by that group,
we already know that certain kinds of
wheat will produce in greater valume
In Kansas than formerly could be
grown in that bread basket of the ma
ton; we know that their soil studies
have evolved ways Of fertilizing that
will break up "hardpan" and subsoils
which the farmer despises, and we
have learned from them that crops re-
curing soils free from acid can be
grown in sections hitherto held to be
areas where such crops were I'M
profitable.
In other words, the work the scien-
lists do is of the sort that the farmer
may not see it's value until he sud-
denly discovers through his farm pa
per that the experiments have shown
1t feasible to plant certain type of
seed or do some other thing that opens
a new avenue of profit to him. The
chemical examinations, the soil in
vestigations, and the studies of fer
tilizers, to mention few, all lead d.
rectly to benefits for those who till the
soil and with their produce feed the
nation.
1t is only step in ones survey of
the department activities from the blu.
reau of chemistry and soils to another
section-the bureau Of entomology
where the investigations are directed
towards means of saving the crops
u,l,;ch tho other scientists have found