In the cotton States the government is trying Egyptian cotton, which is now imported to the value of $8,000,000 annually.
In Arizona and other dry tracts dates and other Egyptian fruits are being successfully acclimated. In the hot states rubber, coffee, bananas, and cocoa are being tried.
Our fruit markets are being extended into Europe, and special agents and consuls are using every influence to enlarge this market. At the Paris Exposition our pears, apples, peaches, and plums were a never-ending surprise to people of all lands. Californians made us all proud of them by their lavish generosity, and the result has been that pears and apples have been sent in large quantities to Southern Europe, also to Russia and Siberia.
New cottons are being sent throughout the South, new prunes and plums along the Pacific Coast. Important experiments are being made in sugar producing. Pineapples are being acclimated in Florida, plants which produce bay rum and various perfumes are being introduced in several states, and olives from Italy are being tried in Porto Rico and the Philippines.
In many different States soils have been examined. In Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, it was found certain soils contain ingredients to produce the finest Cuban tobacco, and other soil regarded as useless was shown to be capable of producing certain rare plants. Every state should call for this kind of analytic help, until we make the United States the garden of the world.
XIX
DEPARTMENT OF CHEMISTRY ON PURE FOODS
DIETETICS
This subject of the relative value of foods is one that interests every individual. The Department of Agriculture is making a brave effort to secure a law regulating interstate and international commerce, requiring that all foods sent from one state to another, or to foreign countries, shall be labeled for just what they are, and shall conform to the government standard in excellence.
For instance, renovated or “process” butter is now passing its ordeal. “Process” butter means that a large quantity of butter has been sent to a factory or elsewhere, and there worked together and colored to secure uniformity of appearance, and then placed on the market. The government requires that it shall be properly labeled. It is of less nutritive value than either oleomargarine or butterine. A government leaflet gives householders and merchants full directions for discovering the real value of anything called butter. Every farmer should secure a copy of the Agricultural Year-book.