The United States and Agriculture 



35 



It is the belief of the writers that if 

 the winter trip were undertaken there 

 would be every reason to anticipate a 

 successful result for the expedition. 

 The objection to the plan is, of course, 

 the time which would be required, and 

 also the very heavy additional expense. 

 While it is difficult to estimate the cost 

 of the winter party, it is safe to say that 

 it would not be less than $25,000 and 

 might easily be double that amount. 



In closing, the writers would strongly 

 urge that if the expedition is under- 

 taken that it be put under the direction 

 of a man who is not only an experienced 



mountaineer but who has also had long 

 training in frontier life and exploratory 

 work, for the success of the expedition 

 must depend in a very large measure on 

 its leadership. They would also urge 

 the necessity of having ample funds to 

 thoroughly equip the party, and that 

 each member be especially chosen for 

 the work in hand. It is hoped that 

 this article may encourage the organ- 

 ization of an expedition, so that the 

 credit for the ascension of the highest 

 peak on the continent may fall to some 

 American mountaineer. 



WHAT THE UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT 

 DOES TO PROMOTE AGRICULTURE 



IT may be stated without exaggera- 

 tion that no government in the 

 world does so much as the United 

 States to promote the agricultural in- 

 terests of the country. A tea has been 

 imported which is now being grown 

 successfully in South Carolina. In a 

 short while enough Sumatra tobacco 

 will be grown in Connecticut to satisfy 

 the American market, which has been 

 paying $6,000,000 annually to import 

 Sumatra tobacco. A new variety of 

 long staple cotton, having nearly double 

 the value of the old variety, has been 

 created ; new wheats and new rices 

 have been introduced, and even a new 

 orange, which will resist frost more 

 vigorously than those now grown in 

 Florida. These are only a few instances 

 of products which are now being suc- 

 cessfully raised within the United States 

 as a result of the watchfulness and 

 teaching of the Department of Agricult- 

 ure. The fixed capital of agriculture 

 in the United States amounts to twenty 

 billions of dollars, or four times that 

 invested in manufactures. How the 



American farmer and the consumer are 

 protected and assisted by expert care 

 may be seen from the following ab- 

 stract of the last annual report of Hon. 

 James Wilson, Secretary of Agricul- 

 ture, who has done more for the agri- 

 cultural interests of the United States 

 than any man in its history : 



INSPECTION OF MEAT 



The Bureau of Animal Industry has 

 made nearly 60,000,000 ante-mortem 

 inspections for the year, at a cost of a 

 fraction over one cent each. The num- 

 ber of post-mortem inspections was 

 nearly 39,000,000. The meat-inspec- 

 tion stamp was affixed to over 23,000, 

 000 packages of meat products, and the 

 number of certificates of ordinary in- 

 spection issued for meat products for 

 export, exclusive of horseflesh, was 

 32,744. The quantity of pork exam- 

 ined microscopically and exported ex- 

 ceeded 33,000,000 pounds. Altogether, 

 the value of exports of animals and ani- 

 mal productions for the year amounted 

 to $244,733,062. 



