Show S P OUi- OUi Go m ur Government How HOVI Hov It Operates By Uil am Bruckart DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE CASUAL CASUAL visitors to the Capital J city of the nation seldom re receive re- re receive e cel suggestions from natives of Washington lashington that they should visit the D Department of Agriculture The here will freely point out places to see and the things 3 of In Interest In- In Interest interest terest that a n tourist should not mIss but the suggestions almost never Include the Department of Agriculture It Is more easily understood than It appears Except for the gardens and a n greenhouse or two over which the department has supervision there Is little tie appeal for the tour tour- tourist tourist 1st In that part of the department located In Washington large largo as that section really Is The rho answer r simply stated to the circumstance is III 1 that the Depart Department went ment of Agriculture operates the greatest laboratories In the world but they are scattered throughout the nation that they can cau be near to tho the problems they seek seck to solve The experimental farms serve ser to Il II Illustrate lustrate the he point That hat farm in your Jour state Is located where It Is for a very cry practical reason the same being that It t Is attempting to develop elop some kind of agricultural product of especial fitness for the I conditions of soil soli and climate un- un un under der which you live But I 1 would not have ha you under under- under that the department d has only this method of serving the farmers Although their work lacks the appeal that Is required to at- at attract at nt attract tract sightseers the vast offices of lie he department In Washington are thoroughly filled with wills men and women and equipment eq as each ench one of them proceeds to work out some new factor In connection with plant and animal life People are ore too prone to think of ot the department only In connection with wheat and cotton and corn and cattle and hogs etc As a matter of fact Its other work orl Is more basic Let me relate the circumstance of one olle office s n-s an Illustration Pre Pre- Presiding PresIding Pre Pre- Presiding siding over o It Is a small man a n Ger German man magi by birth but an nn Immigrant to America nt at an nn early age He lIe Is highly educated uses many terms In ID conversation that go tar far over nip my humble head and plods along with his studies And Aad what does he study Peat peat bogs uses of peat how to us s peat peal lands lIe He Is recognized throughout hout the world as an authority on peat and slowly but surely out of the vast ast researches that he has hns made and Is s waking Is coming Information that will trill result In utilization of million millions s of acres of land that Is looped looked upon n unto now b by those residing near as nol no worth the taxes lases Its owners have ha to t The pay The fhe Individual Indi about whom I ha e written above Is Just one cog In a 8 great machine known Down In the depart meat as os the bureau of chemistry v and soils lolls an nn agency of earnest men menI me merand n I and women seeking s facts Sd SC enlists they are and scientists they will remain and while superficially their work worl may lacy be made malle the this sub subJect Jett of laughter and play by-play cultural life of America owes much to them For Instance out of the thc constant constan t Investigating that goes on by that tha t group we already know that cere certain lain kinds of wheat will produce 1 In n greater volume In Kansas than for for- formerly formerly formerly merly could be grown In that bread breadbasket breadbasket basket of Ule he nation we know that their soil soli studies have evolved e ways way of fertilizing that will break brenk up hardpan and which the farmer despises and we have hav learned from them that crops re-quiring re re- re requiring requiring quiring soils free from Crom acids can be b grown In sections hitherto held to tobe tobe be areas where such crops were unprofitable un un- un unprofitable profitable In other words the work worl the enlists do Is of the sort that the farmer may not see Its value until he suddenly discovers through his farm paper that the experiments have shown It feasible to plant a certain type of seed or do some other thing that opens a n new aye ave avenue I one nue of profit to him The chemical examinations the soil soli In Investigations Lions and the studies of fertilizers to mention a n few all lead directly to benefits for those who till the soil soli and with their produce feed the nation I i It Is only a step In ones one's survey of the department activities from the bureau of chemistry and soils solis to another the section section the bureau of where entomology where the In Investigations Lions are arc directed towards means menns of saving the crops which the other scientists have found can be pro pro- produced produced to better advantage The scientists In the bureau of ento ento- entomology entomology neology can cnn tell you OU about the life Ilfe history of the potato bug or any other that has been discovered as ii lJ parasite on American plant life And what Is more mure Important to the ag ng- n agricultural producers those scientists can nn tell you how to defeat time the ray ravages ages of the Inserts that lint are am known to be he Injurious to n th the flip crops Naturally too since they study In Insects the same scientists provide pro the nations nation's with In- In Information keepers bee In Information formation about the honey bees and how to protect them from the dan daners ers that threaten them then 0 m mi us Western We N w Union h |