THE HISTORIC
Work of the United ttates

SHENANDOAH VALLEY.
GUY ELLIOTT MITCHELL.
Department of Agriculture.

famous Shenandoah Valley is
one of the best farming sections of
Virginia, and I had the pleasure re-
cently of taking a trip, in company
with my father, down to its lower end
at Harrisburg, probably 140 miles
south of Washington. The valley was
the scene of many hard fought skir-
mishes and battles in the late civil
war between Sheridan and Early, and
we touched at the point where Sher-
idan made his famous ride to Win-
chester and turned back the victorious
troops of Early. I have more than
once heard my uncle, who was a cap-
tain in the 128th Illinois under Sher-
idan, relate how after working all
night making up his company's pay
rolls, he had turned out of his tent
just in time to see Sheridan riding by
on his black charger, swinging his sa-
ber, swearing like the typical cavalry:
man that he was, and shouting to the
boys, “turn back, w've got them
The

will give 50 and 60 bushels. I noticed
large acreages of poorly cared for corn
which would not make half a crop,
even where the land was apparently
fairly good.
It seems singular that so many
farmers, not only in Virginia, but in
every State, will plough a field, harrow
it, fertilize it, and lay it off and plant
it, cultvate it once or twice and then
through neglect to give it two or more
cultivations at the proper time reduce
their yield from 20 to 40 per cent. I
noticed many corn fields on this trip—
and they can be seen in every farm-
ing distriet in Virginia—where the corn
had gotten a good start and grown
well, up to its first cultivation; then
work had ceased on it and the wire
grass and weeds were gathering as
much fertility as the corn itself.
Corn in Virginia appears to be the
favorite crop for planting in young
orchards. It is, in fact, believed by

Two VigGivia
Cory [IELDS. |
THe Gooo Cory
WiLL YIELD SIXTY {
BUSHEL S PER ACRE.
THE Poor, FIELD
NOTHING BUT [FODDER

licked.” A great fighter too, was
Early, who was said never to know
that he was whipped.
This part of Virginia is full of land-
arks of the great civil strife. Many
old-fashioned houses, with their great
outside stone chimneys, tell their own
tales of antebellum days when tobacco
was king in Virginia, and when peace
reigned in the great state which was
the Mother of Presidents. Peace again
prevails over Virginia and she is now
taking on a second prosperity. The
Shenandoah Valley, as a whole, is rich
in agriculture; it has also many stone
quarries and some manufactories.
Few prettier places could be found to
live in than the country around Har-
risonburg.
Nestling Among the Mountains.
The valley nestles between the Man-
sucton spur of mountains to the west
and the Blue Ridge of the Alleghanies
to the east. It grows great quantities
of corn and wheat; some sheep and
cattle are raised and considerable
fruit. “The horticultural possibilities of
this section of Virginia are wonderful,”
said one of the fruit men of the De-
partment of Agriculture to me, recent-
ly. “Old Virginia will yet wake up
some day. The main stay of the
country, however, now, is the trinity
of wheat, corn and grass (timothy and
clover). One feature of the trip was
a Pekin duck farm with 25,000- birds,
which produced, it is claimed, $16,000
last year. But corn and wheat are the
principal money crops. Wheat costs
about 70 or 75 cents a bushel to raise.
This includes seeding the field with
timothy and clover and consequently
a stand of pasture land, which gets its
start from the fertilizer for the wheat
crop. So that if a farmer gets 70 cents

RUSSIAN SUNFLOWER VIRGINIA.
TWELVE INCH HEAD.
Introduced by Department of Agriculture.
a bushel for his wheat, he comes out
whole and is getting his grass and
clover without cost. This rotation of
crops and the plowing under of the
clover the second year keeps the land
fertile and improved.
Money in Well Tended Corn.
Corn, well planted and cultivated, is
a good money erop in Virginia and is
almost necessary to a proper rotation.
The average of the Virginia crop is
$11.50 per acre; in Illinois, which has
much richer soil, the value is $11.50
and much of the corn yield in Virginia
is pitably small, There are thousands
of acres of worn-out lands yielding no
higher than 20 or 15 or even 10 bushels
to the acre. The Shenandoah Valley
farmers all say that their good bottom
lands, and even some of the uplands,

many farmers and fruit growers to be
the best orchard crop.
It seemed to me that there must be
much pleasure in getting up in the
early morning and looking over toward
a range of mountains with their sum-
mits in the clouds and the mists rising
from smoke. As the sun breaks over
the crests the clouds are dispersed and
it is then time for breakfast.
Bureau of Animal Industry.
Dr. D. E. Salmon, who has recently
resigned as chief of the Bureau of An-
imal Industry of the Departmnt of Ag-
riculture, has held that position for
over twenty years and has done some
of the best work which has been ac-
complished in that department. Under
his direction and supervision the sys-
tem of inspection of slaughtered meats
intended for interstate shipment and
export has been brought to a high state
of perfection until American meats
which are received abroad with the
official tag from the Bureau of Animal
Industry are assured as good.
The integrity of the American mer-
chant or shipper may be as high as
that of the merchants of any other na-
tion, but it is nevertheless .a fact
that without some such supervisory ac-
tion on the part of the government,
the foreign market would soon be com-
pletely killed by unscrupulous dealers,
and it is believed that the inspection
system of the department has done and
is doing more to build up American
trade abroad for agricultural products
than any other work.
Inspection of Dairy Products.
A very important branch of the Bu-
reau of Animal Industry is the dairy
division, and of late years government
inspection and regulation, to some ex-
tent, has been extended to dairy pro-
ducts. Congress recently passed a law
authorizing the Department to inspect
butter shipped abroad, and further
to supervise and practically compel
creameries and renovated butter estab-
lishments to adopt cleanly and sani-
tary methods.
Dr. Salmon resigned, presumably, on
account of the charges made against
him by reason of his connection with a
private corporation supplying tags and
labels to the bureau of which he was
chief, After an exhaustive investi-
gation by the Department of Jus-
tice, Secretary Wilson exonerated Dr.
Salmon from any wrong doing in this
connection, but, either he himself de-
sired to sever his connection with the
government, or it was thought advis-
able to ask his resignation and later
appoint a new man not connected with
such charges,
Dr. A. D. Melvin, an assistant in the
bureau, has been placed in charge and
may become the permanent chief.
R Free Farm Bulletin.
The Department of Agriculture has
just printed a small bulletin which will
be sent free to any farmers applying
for it. It outlines the results of a num-
her of farmer's experiments made at
the various State Experiment Stations
in cooperation with the Department at
Wishingon. It includes such questions
as the top dressing of grass land, pea-
nuts as forage crops; winter killing of
fruit trees; cranberry culture lime-sul-
phur-salt wash for scale insects; clean
milk; poultry houses, ete. The bulletin
is one of a series known as “Experi-
ment Station Work.” Four or five of
these particular bulletins are issued by
the Department during the course of
each year, each one containing from
six to a dozen short articles on practi-
cal farm matters. These publications
are of the most popular and useful
little documents issued by the Depart-

ment. The one referred to is No. 227
and can be had upon application to
members of Congress, or Senators, or
to the Secretary of Agriculture.
Orange Tree Foe.
The Department of Agriculture has
received a report from an agent in
Mexico stating that in six and perhaps
more states in Mexico he has found
traces of the orange maggot, which is
a dreaded foe of oranges, and it is
feared that this condition might per-
mit of its entry into California.
The Mexicans in attempting to erad-
icate the maggot have destroyed thou-
sands of orange and mango trees
The multiplication of the orange mag-
got is said to be something enormoas.
Japanese Paper Plant.
Secretary Wilson’s men are working
to introduce a sort of vegetable
leather. It is in reality a paper plant,
as much so as the papyrus plant of
ancient Egypt, but its uses are mani-
fold, ranging all the way from dainty
note paper to water-proof garments—
and which are really water-proof
under the severest tests—und leather
pocketbooks which outwear real
leather. The plant is a pretty little
shrub called in Japanese “mitsumata,”
and it is its inner bark which is
converted to use. The plant grows in
the mountains of Japan, and Explorer
Fairchild, of the Department of Ag-
riculture, believes that it will thrive
over a large part of the Appalachian
range and other similar sections of the
United States,
In Japan pipe cases and tobacco
pouches are manufactured from the
material, as well as a kind of wall
paper, which is already becoming fash-
ionable in America. Such wall papers
of vegetable leather are turned out in
bautiful designs for wall and ceiling
decorations, being stamped and mod-
eled by hand in the most artistic pat-
terns. It would seem that Americans
have a great deal to learn from the
Japanese about paper-making. Already
large quantities of another kind of
paper” obtained from the same plant
are imported for use as legal docu-
ments, diplomas, deeds and bonds.
There are at least eight other plants
from which the subjects of the Mi-
kado obtain paper stuff, while this
country depends for such material up-
on linen. Mr. Ifairchild, who has made
a special study of this subject, says
that it is not pleasant to think that the
brilliant white note paper which a wo-
man uses may have nn it part of the
filthy garment of some Egyptian fellah
saved by a ragpicker from the gutter,
yet it is a fact that hundreds of tons
of Egyptian rags are fetched every
year to the United States to supply
the paper mills. At Mannheim on the
Rhine the American importers have
rag-picking houses, where rags are col-
lected from all over Europe (the
disease infected levant not excepted),
and where women and children work
with wet sponges tied over their
mouths sorting the filthy scraps for
shipment to New York. The best
papers are made of these vile rags.
Papers made from the inner bark of
plants, like the “mitsumata,” are a cre-
ation of the Orient, They are softer,
silkier, tougher and lighter than Amer-
ican-made papers. If wet they lose
their strength, like tissue paper, but
on drying regain it.
mse eee eet
JAPANESE TEACH RUSSIANS.
Remarkable Incidents Connected
with the Last War,
War and pence are strange bed-
fellows, for over in Japan, the land of
the rising sun, the Japanese readily
mixed the two arts in a fashion totally
unexpected. The Japs had coralled
at Himeju somewhere in the neighbor-
hood of 75,000 Russian prisoners, most-
ly from Port Arthur,probably 70,000
of whom were illiterate. A well-
known writer in commenting on the
success of the Japanese arms brings
out into the light the secret of Japan's
strength. It is in just one thing, the
men have mental as well as physical
training. The majority of iuppon’s
soldiers have received education in

RUSSIAN
PRISONERS
LEARNING WRITE
RUSSIAN UNDER
JAPANESE TEACHERS
eat
JAPANESE
PRISONERS AT
WORK
Courtesy Harpers
so

tunnel the Niagara River.
| the waters of Norway annually.
NEW MONEY NEEDED.
The Government Cannot Print It
Rapidly Enough.
The great Bureau of Engraving and
Printing at Washington has reached its
limit, and new machines and additional
workmen must be provided to turn out
the money needed for the country.
“We are even now having much diffi- |
culty in keeping up with the demand |
for new money,” said Charles H. Treat,
the United States Treasurer, “and it
is going to be ditlicult to supply the de-|
mands for the busy business season. |
Large amounts of old money are com-
ing into the treasury for redemption,
with the request that new money be
issued in its place. The business of
WHERE THE MONEY IS ENGRAVED.
the country must have what it wants
in the way of currency, and when this
old money is sent in for redemption
it is not wise to delay getting out the
new money to replace it.
“The national banks of the country
are increasing their circulation at a
remarkable rate. During this last year
this increase has been about $60,000,000,
and many of the banks have had to
wait much longer than prudent to ob-
tain their circulation. These delays
‘tie up’ the circulating medium. There
were recently 118 banks on the list
waiting for new currency. This In-
creased growth of the circulation out-
standing of national banks represents
the normal growth of the country.”
Plans are being considered at Wash-
ington for the extension aid enlarge-
ment of the Bureau of Engraving and
Printing, where all of Uncle Sam’s
money is manufactured.
22 2VVVVVVVVVVVAVVe

Briefs From Everywhere :
VV VVVVVVVVVIVRIVD® |
The honey hee is said to be the in-
veterate foe of the bumble bee and will |
kill him on slight provocation, and
often without provocation at all.
There were imported into the United
States for the last fiscal year 3,658,131,-
447 pounds of sugar.
The product of the poultry industry
in the United States was worth last
year $280,000,000. The value of hog
products was $186,529,000.
Salt is a government monopoly in
Italy, and people living on the seacoast
are forbidden to evaporate sea water to
obtain salt.
Iced whale was one of the delica-
cies served by the Emperor of Japan
at his dinner to Secretary Taft and
party.
Thomas Kilpatrick, who gave to New
York its first apartment house, in 1853,
was ridiculed as a man who built five
houses, “one on top of the other.”
The fact that malaria was caused by
mosquitoes was known to Cingalese
physicians in the sixth century.
The harassed Sultan of Turkey never
sleeps in a dark room. Ilis chamber
and the nearby apartments and gar-
dens are brilliantly lighted all night. |
He is read to sleep each night, usually

| by his brother.
The Michigan Central Railroad will
Iifty million codfish are caught in

some form, and with the desire to en-
lighten the Russian prisoners, the gov-
erment of Japan established in the
prison at Himeju a school wherein
was taught to the illiterate Russians
their own language. Strange as this
may seem this fact has been brought
out by a short article in the Japan
Daily Times in which appears the
statement: “Thanks to the teaching,
those soldiers who were totally illiter-
ate are now able to write letters to
their homes. It is stated that the
authorities of the quarters received
inquiries from Russia asking if the
letters were really written by the
senders.”
Credit Due Japan.
This, one of the most unusual events
ever produced by war, is as much to
Japan's credit, as it is valuable to
the poor Russian peasantry. The
Kobe Daily News has been issuing
an illustrated weekly for the Russian
prisoners. The first issue of the sheet
qalled “Japan and Russia” contained
over twenty excellent photographic
illustrations. This paper in introduc-
ing itself stated that its object was
“to keep the 70,000 Russian prisoners
now in this country informed about
the general situation at the front and
the attitude of the various powers in
connection with the war, as well as
to acquaint the prisoners with the

The great turbine steamers of the
Cunard line, which are expected to
show a speed of twenty-five knots an
hour, will be in service in the spring of
907.
King Oscar of Sweden and the Nor-
wegian poet Bjornson are great per-
sonal friends, though the poet has long
been writing in behalf of the independ-
ence of Norway. |
The black spotted trout is the great-
est climber among fish. Ile goes up
falls and dams on his way to headquar-
ters with ease,
An automobile omnibus line is in op-
eration in Lima, Peru,
The total number of merchant ves-
sels registered in the world is 29,756.
The German sculptor, Meissner, has
completed his statue of Peter Ilenlem,
who four hundred years ago substituted
springs for weights in clocks, thus
making the watch a possibility, The
statue is to be erected in Henlem’s
birthplace, Nuremburg.
Daniel Webster, on his Marshfield
farm, was a scientific farmer and a
breeder of thoroughbred cattle—Alder-
neys, Ayrshires and Devons,
characteristics of our people, thus pre-
paring the way for mutual friend-
ship and confidence between the two
nations after the restoration of

peace.”
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