AMERICAN DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

New Zealand Mail, 21 February 1901, Page 53

AMERICAN DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE

SOME VALUABLE INFORM AI lON. The agricultural Department of the United States comprises a number of divisions, each of which is well equipped for the particular line of work entrusted to it. A summary of the operations of the several divisions will show how efficiently the great organisation at Washington discharges the duties for which it was created. The Weather Bureau is experimenting successfully with wireless telegraphy. Messages have been sent over oU miles of rough country. The prospect of further improvement is very promising. The Bureau of Animal Indxistry deals with the farm live stock of the United States. It inspects meat for inter-State and international trade; it examines pork with the microscope for countries requiring suen inspection; it inspects vessels that carry animals xo foreign countries, looking to their adaptability ; it inspects imported animals to protect the home herds; it experiments with swine diseases through serum treatment ; it experiments with blackleg in cattle through distribution in vaccine with prospects of eradication, and with sheep sca b with like prospects. Ka hies exists among dogs and other animals m the district of Columbia and adjoining States that can be exterminated wiienever public sentiment will permit the restraining of dogs from biting for a term sufficient to pay the period, of incubation. The Bureau finds that Texas fever among cattle exists in Puertorico. and continues experimentation wmi dies and other remedies. The work of the Division of Chemistry during the year has embraced the extent and character of food adulteration, an examination of horseineat, a study of soils, sugar-beet investigations, experimentation on foreign food products, and co-operation with other departments, with legislative branches of the Government, and with other divisions of the Department of Agriculture. In connection with the Division of Entomology, it is stated that the Smyrna fig is now successfully grown on the Pacific coast as a result of the importation, by this division, of the insect that fertilises the blossoms. Over six tons of this fruit were grown and packed in the past season. A life history of this insect lias been prepared fjr publication. An African insect lias been imported that preys upon the olive scale. A fungoid disease of grasshoppers has been imported from Natal that has destroyed swarms of locusts in Colorado and Mississippi. The Division of Botany undertakes the testing of seeds as to purity, germination, and trueness to name, the average purity of seeds sent out last- year being 97. and the average germination 91.4; experiments with home-grown a»d foreign clover seeds, and methods of seeding land with Bermuda grass; supervision of the introduction of seeds ana plants, from foreign countries, and distribution among State experiment stations and others making research; investigation of poisonous stock plants and preparation of reports ; inquiring into tropical plants of Ruertorico ; and the introduction of Hungarian wheats. By the Division of Vegetable Physiology and Pathology the diseases of cereals and plant breeding were studied during the past year. Tne most important work of the Division of Pomology was that connected with the fruit display at the Paris International Exhibition. Grasses are the greatest agricultural sources of wealth, and the Division of Agrostology gathers, studies and distributes them. The Division of Biological Survey is studying the Belgian hare, and ascertaining what may be expected of it. Congress has given the Department of Agriculture authority regarding the importation of animals from forcountries, and this division is in charge of the execution of the law. The work of the division of soils comprises mapping in several States; ■ tobacco investigations, growing Sumatra tobacco under shade, with the prospect of saving annually to American citizens, producers and consumers 15.000,000 dollars; experiments in ‘improvement of the aroma of filler tobacco grown in Pennsylvania and Ohio; and growing Cuban type of cigar filler in Texas and Puertorico. The Division of Forestry is competing ivicii the lumbermen and tree planters.