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m FARHERand PLANT BREEDER. Work of Assistant Secretary Willet M. Hays. OUT ELLIOTT MITCHELL. The country hu realized for eome time that it hai In its Secretary of Agrlculturo a real tanner; Ua new Assistant Secretary la likewise * farmer, and union all reoorda and pcaiance* are false, a good one. has tho valuable faculty of knowing how to do things, and at the same time to be able to tell others how. This Assistant Secretary Is Willett U. Hayi. Professor Hays was Secretary Wilson’s choice for Aulstant Secretary, after Colonel Brigham's death, and It ap pears as though Professor Hays’ ap pointment was anything but a political one. There Is a One entente cordial between these two broad-gauge men and the work of the Department has taken a distinct forward sweep since Mr. Hays' appointment He put his shoulder to the wheel at once and seemed able to dispense with the usual two or three months of "breaking In," which an Assistant Secretary for a big department usually undergoes. He fits his environment well wherever be hap pens to be. Instructing his classes In the field at the University of Minne sota, located Just between the Twin Cities, you would have suspected that Professor Hays seldom visited St. Paul or Minneapolis; on the other hand. When you see him walking along the streets in Washington you would scarcely expect him to be able to drop a straight furrow. But In coming city ward and wearing a crease In his trousers he has not lost bis straight- gratifying results. The average wheat yield of the Northwestern State!— Minnesota and the Dakotas—ranges, as I remember, from thirteen to fifteen bushels to the aclb, which Is about the average for the entire United' States. Increase this say one-fourth by simply using this new seed, as In the case of thousands of acres In the State of Min- nesota, and figure out the gain to the oountry. And this is only from re sults already obtained In seed improve ment. Tp Double the Wheat Yield. ■ The whmt breeding work Is going on steadily, and Professor Hays says that he has probably not yet reached the hall-way point In increased yield. In the work of simple wheat breeding by selection each grain Is planted and cultivated separately, a thousand of them In rows, each one like A tree, and then the best ten heads are selected from those thousand plants, and the plumpest grains again selected from those ten heads. Then you are ready for the planting of next year. And so on for ten years. In hybridization there are many moro pains taken. Here the best specimens of two differ- ant varieties are crossed upon dach other by band pollination and the com plex system of selection simultaneously carried on year by year. But the labor Is more than Justified by the results. Other experiments have been success fully carried along under Professor Hoys with the Idea of changing tho nstltuents of the crops—putting more protein or muscle-producing elements in the grain and forage crops Just as the beet grower works to put more sugar Into bis beets. Practical farm Teaching. AH this work Is technical; It might be the doings of the recluse. The other side of Professor Hays’ make-up stands forth when he gets out on a swing ’round the circle and preaches what be knows; when he distributes literature and delivers lectures to the farmers in halls or from the rear plat forms of trains—a practical educator. More agriculture In our national sys tem of education Is bis slogan, practi cal farm education that will enable a man to farm-better and make moro monoy at It He urges the consolida tion of the small rural schools—bring ing four or fire of them Into one good- sited school where more competent teachers can be hired And a much broader education afforded. The In teresting thing about his boys at the University of Minnesota was that they were there to study plants and ani mals and then go back to the farm. They were at a college, to be sure, but by breeding. And Professor Hays drew a parallel, step by step, between the Improvement of the Wealthy apple, tracing Its history and Improvement from the tree developed by Peter M. Hidden of Minnesota, and Messenger, an Imported English racing horse, which became the leading progenitor of the American racing or trotting , WHEAT ROOT SYSTEM, horse, and he thus showed that plants were capable of the same development by breeding Aa are animals. « If you are Interested In learning something about plant breeding you might write to ydur Congressman for s copy of Bulletin 29 of the Department of Agriculture, or probably Professor Hays himself hu a few extra copies. HYBRIDIZING WHEAT IN THE FIELD. forward way of taking people at their word and believing Just what they eay. I asked him for a photograph to ac- company this letter, remarking that I Would Ilka to have one of him oa he looked oa I test aaw him "down on the farm" (he would bo arrestod It ha went around Wuhlngton looking oa he waa than), and he gravely responded that he had no photograph auch aa I wanted, hut that he would send mo one taken at a later date. Breeding up Plants. The work which has made Profeaaor Hays most famous Is his plant-breeding experiments. He is the wlsard of farm plant Ufa u Luther Burbank la of bar tlculture. He hu taken wheat and bred It np, by selection and hybrldUa- tloa covering periods of five and ten years, so that tho Improved strain yields probably 16 to SO per cent heavier. ‘He has done the same with flax and with timothy and with com and other (arm crops. This hu en tailed the most painstaking work, con tinued year after year, but always with they wero taking a sort of blgh school agricultural course, many of them lor one or two years, and were not figur ing on getting a diploma and then leaving the farm and ntrlking out for eome city, u Is unfortunately the hle- tory of eo many of the graduate* of the agricultural colleges. Working through the Boys. *Do your new methods stick with the boys when they get back on the old farm?" I asked. "How do tho boys’ fathers taka It?” "Ob, they think at first when the boys go home and want to make changes that wo are teaching them a lot of new-fangled noUons. After the first year perhaps they let the boy take a try on a small scale Then with the good results shown by the trial they are more than likely to come around by the second or third year and there le apt to bo quite a shaking up of methods In tho work on the old plnco. You can’t expect to make much head way teaching the older farmers, but you can get at them through the boys.*' A WHEAT FLOWER (ENLARGED). A seventy-page bulletin which Pro fessor Hays wrote for the Department of Agriculture some four yean ago on the subject of plant breeding brought his work Into great prominence. In It he outlined numerous poastbllitlea of increased production of nit crops through plant brooding. Evanr man know* that tho American trotting horn frceiK.v,aadorfnllT Improved FROM POLE TO EQUATOR. Arctic Eaplorer Now Penetrating the Heart of Africa. Whether in the frigid grip of the north polar country or the burning ■and* of tropical Africa, the Duke of Abruzxl seems equally at home. This Italian scientist, who made euch a high reputation by his recent arctic explore* tlona, has started for unknown regions of Central Africa with a fully equipped expedition, proposing to explore the Ruwenzorl Mountains and climb their hlgheet peaks. This range crosses the Equator In the vicinity of the Lakes Nyaasa, whence flow the waters of the Nile. It la some eighty miles long, a vaet pile of bine- rock burled upward In some ancient convulsion of Nature. The English explorer, Stanley, found r.uwcnzorl twenty years ago. It was pointed out to him aa a big salt moun tain. Aa the sun ascended. It assumed shape before hie view—a great moun tain clothed In snow—and It took him weeks of travel to find out that tt be- longed to a range. Stanley believed that the Ruwenzorl range and the Mountains of the Moon, which can be found on old maps, are identical. Ac cording to the old geographies, the waters of the Nile riao in the Moun tains of the Moon. The Duke of Abruzxl baa a difficult task before him to conquer tbe Moun tains of tbe Moon, even though their summits fall somewhat short of that orb. A large quantity of supplies must be carried on the backs of natives, and though the start will be made In the moat torrid of tropical climes, tho party will soon ascend Into temperate regions and then trudge for months In a truly polar climate. Milk la Tow Tea. "The use of plenty of milk with tea,” says The Lancet (London), “Is n wla* precaution apd must be regarded aa a sound physiological proceeding, since the protelds of milk destroy * strin gency and probably prevent tbe other wise Injurious action of tannin on the mucous membrane of tho stomach. In the Intestinal Juice the protelds era separated and the tannin probably com bines with tho sodium salts. The Im moderate drinking of- tea Is an un questionable evil, but, on tho whole, we are Inclined to think that the evils of tea-drinking have been exaggerated; The real difficulty le to convince people that a lightly drawn lnfuilon gives them their money’s worth.” 6R0VIH OF RAILROADS. INTERSTATE COMMERCE COM MISSION PUCES PAR VALVE AT it MILLIONS. Mors than Three Quarters of a Billion Dollars Paid Out Annually by tbe companies in Salaries to Over a Million Regular Employees. Tbe annual report of the Interstate Commerce Commission, giving- rail road statistics at the end of ICO*, shows tbe enormous total of 297,078 mtlea of railroad In the United States. More recent railroad construc tion baa brought this figure up to more than 800,000 miles. Tbe num ber of railroad corporations Included In tbe report waa 2,10*. That the railroads are prosperous la shown by tho fact that only 1,323 miles of road were In tbe hands of receivers. The total number of locomotives In use was *0,743 and of cars, exclusive of those owned by private companies. 1.796.000. Of these, 89,000 were In the passenger service and 1,092,000 engaged Id hauling freight Prac tically all the passenger locomotives and ears were equipped with air brakes and automatic couplers, and the same was true of freight locomo tives and a large majority of freight cars. The number of persons on the pay rolls of railroads In tbe United 8tates was 1,200,000, with annual wages and salaries amounting to 6817.006.000. The par value of the amount of railway capital was 613.218,124,000, or s capitalization of 601,200 per mile. Six Per Cent. Dividends. Of tbe total capital stock out- standing, 42 per cent paid no dividends. The amount of dividends declared during the year was 6221.941.000. or a little over 0 per cent on dividend-paying stock. The number of passengers reported as car ried by the railways In tbe year waa 715.419.000. Tbe number of tons of freight carried was 1,300,890,000, an Increase over the previous year of over five and one-half mlllloa tons. UNEXPLODED PROJECTILES. Danger Lurks Thercln-Chlness Inquisitiveness Proves Fatal. The dispatch coming from the Far East of the killing of nearly a dozen people by tbe explosion of n mine near Cbefoo. brings to light Incidents going to abow that the land in the vicinity of Port Arthur la a fertile field of un exploded land mines and shells. When tbe Russians were shelling the Japanese poaltiona near tbe vil lage of Sulsblylng many shells fell In tho localities desired by the gun lolnters, bat the ordnance waa of snch a defective quality that they failed to explode. A good lot of these projectiles have lain where they fell, objects of the careful Inveatlgmtlon and Inspection of the wondering and speculative villagers. On one occa slon a dispute arose as to tbe danger In these Innocent-looking pieces of Iron, and a bold native, to prove bis contention that they were harmless, as well aa his bravery, struck one of the missiles with a big stone. This was going a little too far, and unfor tunately he bit It on tbs nose, tbs ten der spot of projectiles. It exploded with a terrible noise, killing ten of the tntereeted snectators. Another Chinese discovered a then wbleb had found s retting piece In tbs fresh water lake Just behind the Russian naval dockyard of Port Ar- thur. At that tlmo the lake was one mats of Ice end the head of the shell Waa Just (ticking np through the frozen meet. John Chinaman was at tracted by tbe shining brass screw at tho top and went out on the Ice to try to get It off. Good metal was worth baring In tbe land of the Oriental, and this le what attracted him. He ueed an old nail to remore the tempt ing object Ills Inquisitiveness was a dear lesson for his family, although the pieces were never found. SCHOOL GARDEN WORK. The Department of Agriculture Is Just Issuing an attractive Illustrated bulletin on school gardens. In his In troductory, Dr. Galloway, Chief of the Bureau of Plant Industry, says, that as agriculture in its broadest sense is the primary basis of wealth In the United States, tt seems essential that efforts should be made In our general educational system to bring early to the mind of the child facte which will he of value oa emphasizing the Importance and necessity of agricultural work. There la np better way to do this, ho says, than through a well-managed and well conducted system of school garden training which early awakens Interest In an Industry which means much to tbe future prosperity of the country. When the work of handling Congres sional free seed distribution waa turned over to the Bureau of Plant Industry several year* ego efforts were made to arouse Interest on tbe part of members of Congress with large city constituen cies, whs might be able to encourage tbs school garden movement through the distribution of specially prepared •ted packages. Since then mUlIons of packages of seeds have been distributed In this wsy In the cities, and the result has been that much school garden work has been organized and thqusands of pupils have learned something of grow ing plants. t A small tract of land back of tho De partment ot Agriculturo Building has been set aside for model school garden work. The bnUetln In question has Illustra tions ot a number of successful school gardens In various cities, and has plans outlined for carrying on such work. Tbe following Interesting paragraph Is quoted from the bulletin on tho work at Hamptoa Institute, Virginia: “When It was announced two yean ago to tbe children of the Whittier school that they were to be taught gar dening on a two-acre tract the new* was received with mixed feelings. While tbe little ones were pleased, the older girls thought tt a disgrace to work In the fields. After two years there are no pupils In the school whs do not look forward with eagerness to this work. If It Is necessary to be ab sent from school, they think tt must not be am gardening day.* Kirk’s AMERICAN CROWN SOAP *tft grata toap, consistency ot past* a perfect clean»er for antomobUa machinery and al* vehicles; will not Injore the moet highly polUhed surface. Made from pure vegetable oils. If your dealer does not carry American Crown Hoap in stock, send ue his name and address and we will aee that your wants are supplied. Put np in ttfi Sand 80 lb palls. James S.Kirk& Company CniCAGO, ILL, BOOKS—BOOKS Ws have published some good ones speo tally suited for farmer*. Books that will help every farmer to make mors oat of his farm Write for our catalogue. ‘WEBB PUBLISHING CO., St. Paul Minn* Well Drilling Machines Over 70 rises and styles for drilling either deep or shallow wells in any Una of soil or rock. Mounted on wheels or sills. With engines or hotse powers. Strong, simple and durable. Any me. chanlc con operate them easily. SOW FOR CATALOCEE WILLIAM BROS., Ithaca, N.Y. 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