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Show U. S. Farm Expert Gives Friendly Advice to China Department of Agriculture Officials Visit Chinese, Suggest Practical Methods Of Increasing Food Production. Dy BAUKHAGE New Atifdyil and Commentator. WU Service, Union Trust Building Washington, D. C. Out in Falls Church, Virginia, a little way from Washington, there lives a friend of mine who was brought up on a farm. Last yeir, some new neighbors moved in next door city folks, you could tell by looking at them, but full of pep and vinegar and very patriotic. They started out to make a victory garden. gar-den. My friend could tell by the way they handled their hoes that before long, they'd be asking him for advice. ad-vice. He's a good neighbor, but he Isn't nosey. So he just waited. Well, it wasn't long before the man next door came up, leaned over the fence, and said: "How is It your garden is coming along so good and mine ain't?" My friend smiled, and then he pitched in and told him some of the facts of plant life. It isn't going to benefit my friend even if his neighbor's garden is a record breaker but he's a typical American and he's doing what we all used to do back In the old days when neighbor depended on neighbor neigh-bor giving a helping hand when it Is needed. Last week, I sat down across the desk from a big, black-haired fellow, fel-low, who looks a lot younger than he is in years and wisdom. His name Is Dr. Ralph W. Phillips. When I talked with him, he had just returned from giving a little neighborly advice over the back fence to our Chinese neighbors. He's In charge of genetics investigations tor the Department of Agriculture and he was loaned to the State department, de-partment, along with some 21 other experts, to go over to China (at the Invitation of the Chinese) to look around and see what ought to be done to improve their stock. For you and me and most Americans, Ameri-cans, even those who don't know any more about a farm than to think "shorts" are just underwear, a cow that doesn't give milk wouldn't be much of a critter. But believe it or not, one of the results which it is hoped Dr. Phillips' trip will achieve Is to explain to the Chinese why cows have udders. First-Hand Facts The Chinese know many things which we don't know, but Phillips has put between the covers of a book now being printed in China, a lot of things that the Chinese never knew before. He got his facts first hand, traveling over most of the un- occupied parts of China with the Chinese Minister of Agriculture and a good interpreter, and collated them against his own expert knowledge knowl-edge of animal husbandry. But as he said to me, if you know anything about a cow, a sheep or a horse, you don't need an interpreter to tell you what's the matter with it. It was a hot day in Washington when I interviewed Dr. Phillips and he had his coat and vest off. "I'm a shirtsleeve diplomat," he said to me. When I learned a little more of the details of his particular job, I realized that it was one in which you had to take off your coat and roll up your sleeves. Among other things, he rode several hundred miles over what the Chinese laughingly laugh-ingly call roads, in ancient automobiles, auto-mobiles, and a good many miles on the back of a very tough Mongolian pony. This friendly, easy-going shirtsleeve shirt-sleeve scientist typifies a new order he is part of a new, honest effort (as one member of the State department depart-ment said to me) "to establish a relationship of people to people" rather than a relationship of diplomat diplo-mat to diplomat, or government to government. Dr. Phillips witnessed the effects of the great . migration of the Chinese government followed by its universities, its people, its industries. indus-tries. This great movement, enforced en-forced by the Japanese occupation, opened up vast territory in western and northwestern China about which very little was known and with which the rulers of China heretofore have been very little concerned. For the sake of this discussion, China can be roughly divided into two quite different agricultural domains. In the crowded eastern provinces. f ft .? .. ; i i ! i V " i I ' ' ' small farming and very small farm ing, indeed, is the chief activity. Ir the west, there are great grass lands better adapted to the raisinj of stock. Animal husbandry in China mus' meet one immediate problem, anc that is, increasing and improvinf production in the western part o: the country and breeding for re stocking in the areas which will b re-occupied when the Japanese an driven out. The heavy demands for food bj the American military, to say noth ing of China's own soldiers, make 1 necessary for the Chinese to in crease food production to th utmost. At present, however, Dr. Phillips reported that except for the famine areas where drouth or in sects have affected the crops, th Chinese people have more fooc available than is popularly believed But they aren't making the mos' of their cows and pigs and chickens As to the Chinese cow, about which Dr. Phillips spoke with great feel ing, one of tbe first things to do if to teach the Chinese peasant that ii gives milk and that milk is a prettj good food. And then to improve th breed so that it will give milk. Al present, the cow is a beest of burden, bur-den, a draft animal. However, il isn't even as good a draft anima! as it could be. It will not be dim cult to improve the breed so that i' will be more efficient as a beast oi burden and as a milk giver at th same time. Of course, the Nomadic peoplt who live on the great plains o! northern China, who live from theii herds, use the milk as food, mostlj dried in the form of casein. Thej also store butter. They have the yak and a hybrid animal, a cross be tween a yak and a cow, which i! called a "pian-niu." The chickens in China aren'1 much to crow about either, I take it, from Dr. Phillips' description. II they lay only 50 to 60 eggs a year, nobody complains. There, too breeding from selected types thai China already has would be a greal help. Dr. Phillips likes the Chinese donkeys don-keys and in spite of personal experiences experi-ences on their backs, thinks Mon golian horses have possibilities Very good mules are produced bj crossing the Mongolian mare anc the donkey. But the Mongolian horse is a little, tough-mouthed, flat-withered, crooked-legged animal whict could be greatly improved witl inter-breeding with a good saddle horse strain. No Ordered Effort Dr. Phillips had first-hand experience experi-ence with these little animals whose ancestors were tough enough tc carry Ghangis Khan across Asia bui are too tough to follow 'the bridle ii they get other ideas. Up until now, there seems to have been no ordered effort by the representatives repre-sentatives of any other foreign country coun-try to assist in the improvement oJ Chinese livestock. Missionaries here and there have introduced bettei grades which have had an influence in the immediate vicinity, Germar missionaries brought in some nice fat pigs. Others introduced gooc chickens and cows. But these were only a drop in the bucket. The Chinese Department of Agriculture Agri-culture itself is a new thing and has very little background of training oi experience. Perhaps the one most important influence has been the exchange ex-change established between Cornel university and the University ir Nanking. A number of experts ii agriculture have been trained ai Cornell and have gone back tc China. Naturally with such a large pro portion of the population illiterate it will be exceedingly difficult tc spread the information even wher the Chinese leaders themselves are trained. The present Chinese government despite the fact that almost everj ounce of energy has to be turnec toward fighting the war, has showr an interest evidenced by the wel come reception given the variou: American representatives, and the United States on its side has soughi to improve its relations betweer people and extend its influence bj this activity which is a part of the cultural relations program. |