Although farming was the main pursuit of the American people when Uncle Sam first appeared on the scene, and although 33 per cent. of the workers in the country are today busy on farms, it was many years before the Government of the United States aided the agriculturalist. It began with printed reports (which, oddly enough, were issued by the Patent Office) on improved breeds of farm animals, with attractive colored lithographs. The immense Morrill Land Grant of 1862 was intended chiefly for agricultural education, and the students and graduates of the resulting colleges have done much to spread a knowledge of scientific farming, such as the adaptation of crops to soil, improvement of seeds and grains, the development of high-grade cattle and other farm animals, and the protection of fruit and other crops from insect pests.
In 1889 was established a Department of Agriculture, with a Secretary sitting in the Cabinet; and in the thirty years that have followed the Department has wonderfully expanded its usefulness. For instance, it has discovered the cause of the Texas cattle fever, which turned out to be a tick, and has very nearly put an end to that dangerous and destructive pest; it has found a serum to prevent hog cholera; it has established a system for checking the ravages of tuberculosis in cattle; its Bureau of Plant Industry brings in new seeds and fruits from all over the world—including such valuable varieties as the Durum wheat from Russia, Siberian millet and Egyptian dates.
UNCLE SAM’S MAIL IN DIFFICULTIES
In Northern Minnesota
Closely allied with the work of the Department of Agriculture is the irrigation service, which is reclaiming millions of acres of land otherwise useless, by furnishing it with unfailing water. The National Forests are under the direction of the Department of Agriculture, which employs about two thousand rangers and fire look-outs.[A] The Biological Survey has successfully found methods for destroying the rats, chipmunks, mice and ground squirrels which cause losses of many millions to the farmers. Millions of copies of printed circulars and pamphlets on various phases of farming are printed. No agency of the Government reaches so great a number of the active workers and producers of the land.
[A] See Mentor Number 165, “Reclaiming the Desert,” and Mentor Number 156, “The Forest.”
Uncle Sam in Trade
A SEASHORE MAIL ROUTE ON THE PACIFIC COAST