June 12, 1903.] 



SCIENCE. 



927 



the Connecticut tobacco then brought an 

 average of twenty cents per pound, the 

 imported leaf commanded from $2.50 to 

 $5 per pound. By growing Sumatra seed 

 under cheesecloth tents, erected at a height 

 of nine feet over the entire field, this cover- 

 ing modifying the climatic conditions, and 

 with radical changes in the methods of 

 cultivation and fermentation, a wrapper 

 leaf has been produced equal at least in all 

 respects to the imported article. This past 

 season 700 acres have been gro^\Ti, the 

 product of which is valued at $1,000,000, 

 bringing on an average from $1.50 to $3 

 per pound, compared with twenty cents 

 per pound for the ordinary Connecticut 

 wrapper; and an industry has been estab- 

 lished which will pay 100 per cent, and 

 over on the investment. Capital is at- 

 tracted by reason of the fact that a large 

 expenditure , can be made on a small area 

 with large returns, or on a larger area with 

 proportionally large profits. An expendi- 

 ture of $650 per acre yields a return of 

 100 per cent, or more over and above all 

 expenses. This is a productive industry 

 that has been developed by the bureau, 

 and which is attracting the investment of 

 enoiinous sums of money. 



Another illustration is in the discovery 

 of a soil in Texas which will produce a 

 leaf possessing all the desirable qualities 

 and aroma of the Cuban product. These 

 lands are entirely undeveloped, principally 

 uncleared and practically valueless for 

 other crops, yet tests of the leaf produced, 

 made by experts, show it to be far superior 

 to any of our domestic filler tobacco. 



A soil survey made in the Yazoo delta, 

 Mississippi, has brought attention to a soil 

 which, covering enormous areas, has here- 

 tofore been regarded as absolutely worth- 

 less, but Avhich with a slight expenditure 

 for protection from overflow Avould produce 

 from $200 to $1,000 per acre, being partic- 



iilarly adapted, by reason of fertility and 

 climatic and market facilities, to trucking. 

 Another line that has been productive of 

 useful results has been the study of alkali 

 soils of the west. It has been thoroughly 

 demonstrated by practical experiments of 

 the bureau that excessive alkali may be 

 removed by drainage, and thousands of 

 acres of land now worthless may be re- 

 claimed and made productive. A careful 

 study and practical experiments are now 

 in progress, and already the success 

 achieved has thoroughly demonstrated the 

 success of these operations. 



Economic Work of the Office of Experi- 

 ment Stations: Dr. A. C. True, director. 

 Office of Experiment Stations. 

 This office is so related to the agricultural 

 colleges and experiment stations as to con- 

 stitute a general agency for the promotior^ 

 of agricultural education and research. On: 

 the economic side, the agricultural colleges,, 

 chiefly through their research departments- 

 called experiment stations, are doing a. 

 large and successful work directly for the 

 improvement of agriculture, by increasing 

 the amount of production and at the same 

 time raising its quality throiigh the appli- 

 cation of science to agriculture. But it 

 is on its social or educational side that the 

 experiment station movement is destined 

 to exert its most profound and permanent 

 influence. For the scientific researches of 

 the stations and their application to agri- 

 cultural practice not only provide much 

 material for effective courses of instruction 

 in the theory and art of agriculture, but 

 they also furnish to the farmer the hitherto 

 lacking motive for definite technical educa- 

 tion along the lines of his art. This is 

 changing the intellectual attitude of the 

 farmer from conservatism to progressive- 

 ness. If, as now seems likely, the stations 

 and the Department of Agriculture shall 

 erelong succeed in arousing the mass of 



