Evening star., 1937-09-19

Government Branch Always Active in I'm
porting Strange Fruits and Vegetables,
While Keeping Out Plant Diseases.

vegetables and other edible growing
things in lands rich with glamorous
names and filled with dangers.
These are the men who develop new
crops for the American farmer and
bring new delicacies to our tables, and
they have explored distant places to
the end that more than $4,000 900
might be added yearly to our national
agricultural income. They introduced
the American farmer to such profitable
crops as Peruvian alfalfa, Pima cotton,
Sudan grass, and others toe numerous
to mention. And they have traversed
Siberia, Mongolia, Indo- o-China, New
Guinea, Turkestan, East Africa,
Patagonia and other lands that read
like an Arabian Nights geography, to
bring home their seeds and grasses.
n IGHT now, down in the Division of
Foreign Plant Introduction they
are very vegetable conscious. Crates
and burlap-tied bundles filled with
specimens are the reason, and not even
Ahohy yNdAn docOAAdblOll WIFI SllIllldl
crates and bundles can dull the sharp
edge OF curiosity which inevitably
attaches TO each new shipment. The
reason for this is easy to understand,
for within any one of those packages
may be found the seed that is destined,
like Helen's face. to launch thousand
ships OF trade and commerce. or make
agricultural history below the Mason
Dixon line.
1t Is going to take time and patience
to find out, for every plant or seed
received from the scene of the expedi-
tons, once it has passed quarantine. is
subjected to a program of careful
cultivation that will decide its destiny.
Many OF the new vegetable shipments
that have passed the first stages are
now under cultivation at BeltsvilIe.
at the agricultural experiment station
there. where, under the watchful eye
OF DR.. Boswell, they will be planted,
checked and tended as part of the
extensive program of vegetable breed
ing now under way in connection with
these latest expeditions.
Not the smallest of the tasks con-
fronting those who receive the plants
at this end of the line is that of breed
ing from the hybrid and varying spe-
cles That inevitably turn up. true
strain, from which may be bred. in
turn, type suitable to the economic
and agricultural needs of this country
ana the climatic and geographical
conditlons under which it must be
grown.
In the Orient. especially, Morrison
points out, every strain is cross
poilinated with other strains or cross
ored because Of its wild state with
| other hybrid growths. The bees. in
most cases. have done thorough Job
OF confusing origins long before the
lrult hangs on the vine or gyrates at
the END OF rope in some Persian
bazaar or Turkish market. It is the
Joo OF the specialists in Beltsville 10
| separate these strains and evolve
the true type before the first steps
ior permanent propagation can be
| taken
RoI before any single specimen ever
sees the light of day in Beltsville.
1t has had some interesting experiences
as plant immigrant.
Each incoming plant immigrant
either from exploration. exchange or
purchase from foreign countries re-
ceives plant introduction number, its
name and description being recorded
With the name Of ths sender, the To-