Am.  Jour.  Pharm.  j 
January,  19 19.  ' 
Castor  Bean  Losses. 
55 
Herman  B.  Walker,  of  Miami,  one  of  the  castor  bean  con- 
tractors, said  recently  that  in  all  probability  there  will  be  an  in- 
vestigation by  a  committee  of  congress  into  the  manner  in  which 
the  castor  bean  crop  was  planted  and  managed. 
"  Fully  5,000  persons  in  Florida  planted  some  acreage  of  castor 
beans  in  response  to  the  government's*  request,"  said  Mr.  Walker. 
"  It  is  doubtful  if  any  one  of  these  growers  will  receive  enough  for 
his  crop  to  repay  its  cost.  Many  who  planted  a  large  acreage,  de- 
pending upon  the  bean  for  their  main  crop,  have  been  ruined  by 
the  failure,  and  in  some  cases  will  not  be  able  to  plant  another 
crop  of  anything.  The  contractors,  without  exception,  will  lose 
heavily,  not  alone  through  failure  of  the  yield  to  come  up  to  expecta- 
tions, but  by  reason  of  large  and  unexpected  expenditures,  not  pro- 
vided for  in  the  contracts,  which  they  have  been  required  by  the 
war  department  to  make." 
"  Ninety  per  cent,  of  the  crop  shortage  and  loss  to  contractors 
and  growers.'"'  declared  Mr.  Walker,  "  may  fairly  be  attributed  to 
the  inferior  seed,  of  unacclimated  and  unprolific  varieties  of  castor 
beans,  furnished  by  the  government  for  the  planting  of  the  crop. 
Other  contributing  causes  of  the  crop  failure,  have-  been  the  misin- 
formation and  bad  advice  furnished  by  the  war  department  and 
department  of  agriculture,  and  damage  caused  by  drought  and  flood. 
We  all  seem  to  have  been  the  victims  of  hasty-  optimism  on  the 
part  of  the  government  officers  in  charge  of  the  crop,"  said  Air. 
Walker.  "  The  contractors  are  as  badly  victimized  as  the  farmers. 
All  our  advertising  and  printing  matter  circulated  to  induce  farmers 
to  plant  the  crop,  was  approved  bv  the  government  officers.  They 
even  censored  our  stationery.  Xot  a  single  statement  as  to  seed, 
prospective  yield,  cost  of  growing  and  probable  returns,  was  made 
by  our  firm  that  was  not  made  on  the  authority  of  responsible 
government  officers. 
"We  were  told  that  the  seed  to  be  furnished  would  be  of  the 
best  varieties  of  beans  and  of  superior  quality.  We  found  it  to  be 
mixed  beans  of  uncertain  age  brought  from  India  for  crushing. 
There  were  beans  of  many  better  and  more  prolific  varieties  grow- 
ing in  Florida,  but  the  government  advice  was  that  the  native  beans 
were  not  desirable.  It  was  represented  to  us  by  Signal  Corps  officers 
that  an  average  yield  of  from  30  to  40  bushels  per  acre  might  rea- 
sonably be  anticipated,  and  that  the  crop  would  be  highly  profitable 
to  both  contractors  and  growers.    In  fact,  these  officers  were  so 
