Evening Star Newspaper, July 11, 1926, Page 61

I Arlington BY GEORGE H. DACY. ‘ IRECTLY opposite the Wash- ington Monument and the Lincoln Memoridl, gcross the Potomac, i3 spacious Arling- ton Farm, hub of history, roving ground of scientific agricul- ure and the finest experimental en- terprise of its kind which soil tilling theory.or practice ever devised and dedicatéd to the cause of investiga- tion and reséarch. : Sclentists of every nation under the sun come from the four corners mental research in progress lington Farm and to inspect many thousands of varieties and se- lections of growing plants which.are produced there. . Travel abroad, if you will, visit the technically trained Y. agricylturists of forelgn countries, and you will find that the vast ma- Jority of them are familiar in.one way or another with this invaluabl garming project, which many Wash dngtonians may have heard of, but Avhich few have visited, although it is daily open to visitors. The same estate where George Washington, more than a century @go, designed and bullt a tunnel tunder the historic Chesapeake and hio Canal—a rockbound passage- v, which stiil is used as a viaduci —is now a clearing house for sclence, laboratory of plant-life and growth, hich is constantly testing out this wr that or some other riddle of tech- thical farming. Where John Parke Tustis once produced corn, cotton @nd tobacco, and where his son, Eeorga ‘Washington Parke Custis, ter lived and gained fame as a prince ©f hosts, Uncle Sam, the master farm- of the universe, now cultivates roll- ng flelds and level bottomlands, and weeks tp solve the secrets of modern nmmz a practical sclence which dates back to the sunrise of Rome's @lory and Egypt's early development. Named in_ honor of- the Earl of lington, who, with Lord Culpeper, granted the patent to the colony #f Virginia, originally owned by a wertain Robert Howson - and finally tqummd by the famous Custis fam- , Arlington Farm has been a silent :pecutor to epochal events in Asn oan history. It was in 1669 that Sir William Berkeley granted to Howson & tract of 6,000 acres in what is now orthern Virginia. So far as his- ry records, the only outstanding wpocurrence during Howson's owner- ¢+ ghip of the property was its christen- 8ng. Shortly afterward, Mr. Howson #old it for 64 hogshead of tobacco to John Alexander, after whom Alexan- @ria, Va, is named. It was during the sunset.months ®f the Revolutionary War that John Parke Custls purchased 1,100 acres pt the Arlington tract from Gen. Alexander for 1,100 pounds in Vir- ginia currency. Mr. Custis was a son of Martha Washington, and after his death the place descended :to George Washington Parke Custls, Who was the adopted son of our first President. Mr.. Custis ‘was an jadvocate -of fpure-bred live stock and held several d_meetings &t gatned wide importance as & ‘center of hos- itality and a base of courtly enter- nment. Mr. Custis-constructed & large recreation pavilion and -dance hall and openéd his estate to the pub- lic every day éxcept Sunday. The extensive area. afforded ideal picnic ¢ :round. for thousands of the resi- e Virginia and their uring D ook datty oF the Guskis hospALEy: ook of 08D > metimes ~ Georgé W. ‘P. Custls would come to the. pavilion carrying his violin and play ‘for' the amuse- ment of his guests, On.other occa- slons . professional ‘entertainers fur- nished the music. “The Virginia reel and the minuet were danced by -ex- . perts and amateurs, ' None came to Arlington but had a good time. Two rigid. regulations were enforced: No visitors were admitted on Sunday and Mo alcoholic stimulants were: allowed on the grounds. Threa Virginia and ~Washi hurches were built from funds which r. Custis raised by charging a small admission fee to the sleeping tent which George Washington used during the war, Mr. Custis brought this tent from Mount Vernon and pitched it during the Summer.on the Arlington lawn. In 1825, while visit- ing in the United States, Gen. Lafay- ette and his son, George Washington Latayette, sat for some time in this tent which was once occupied by the older Lafayette's beloved ‘friend and pomrade. 3 * k% R 'YOU can gain some idea concerning I X “the popularity of -Arlington by the fact that during the year 1853 more than 20,000 visitors came .to view its natural and man-made splen- dors and to enjoy its hospitality, The estate grounds in those days wers evitently the forerunners of Rock CCreek Park as a_public picnic place % ‘where Government clerks and their gamilies could find outdoor recreation $nd amusement. It was not until 1803 that Arlington @Mansion was first occupied by the stis family. The first Custis home stood where agricultural buildings siow dot the landscape. Nine ad- @itional years passed before ‘the yesidence ‘was completed. - Upon the feath of George Washington Parl Custis the place was' inherited by his daughter, Mary Ann Randolph Custis, who, in 1881, was married to Cadet Robert E. s:e of the West 7. Point Military Academy. "A torrential rainstorm delayed this yotable _wedding. Rev. - Willlam Meade, who later bicame’ the Bishop ot Richmond, ‘was soaked to the skin awhen he finally arrived at Arlington #ome time after the wedding was pcheduled to take place. Post-haste, raiment, - consisting of a suit formerly owned by George W. P. stis, was brought forth for the use f the minister. Instead of being & #t, it was much of a misfit, for the lergyman was - tall and - slender, ile the former owner of Arlington #vas rather short and portly. : Not- withstanding the drawback of his mis- it garb, Meade conducted the uptial ceremony which_ united. the and Custis families, ; It was during the early. weeks of + ¥he Ciyil War that the members of, g. Robert E. Lee family left Arling- , , thelr treasured estate and home;! ¢, order to go to Richmond, where ion- Lee became military. leader of & Cnnlgdiucy.r«'_‘s;vonl the departure of 5 6,000 ik ‘zn was ‘not until 1877 that. Former Lec Estate Be:cbnéxégb World's Most F;mém Proving Ground for Fafifiing Rfléamh;Place Which Has Unusual Historic Associations Now Takes Position as a Scientific Center for One of Most Tmportant Federal Activities—Theories ‘Are Put to Test and Many Times Translated Into Practical Results—-Tu;mel B asa Landmirl(4-Abopit $350.000 Spent There Annually by Government. TAYTOR #ilt by George Washington Still Remains arin n{ £.C.Dutterfieldy fartty ' enarge of Arltuglon Where Geience solves riddies of rose-gro hes National Agriculture | even from foreign countries. matchless turf garden is used as'-a research proving ground in co- operation with the United States Goif Association. Several hundred small plots of grass have answered turf production’s greatest conundrums. Golf clubs throughout the United States and Canada have profited im- measurably from these grass-growing tests. Creation knows more about fine turf production than ever before, be- cause of this experimentation in grow- and propagati the creeping bent, velvet bent, ‘ashington bent, fedicues, clovers, blue grass and other varieties of lawn and golf-course turf. Such factors-as rolling, mowing, rak- ing, topdressing, sprinkling weeding, disease control, pest eradication, lim- ing, use of commercial fertilizer and other problems of ‘reemw;rt\m..klns l-mtl.dennnce have been\investi- gated. ‘Two hundred acres of cultivated crops are being produced at Arlington Farm this year, and the results of their culture in many different ways will influence future agricultural prac- tices in varfous farming districts from the Atlantic to the Pacific and from Canada to Mexico, The tests of small grains include breeding experiments, studies of disease resistance and the development of . disease - resistant strains, research with standard va- rieties, inheritance studies, effect of seed treatment on germination, prob- . |lems of self-sterility, fertflizer tests and others. Many mysterious plant diseases are being studied with the ultimate hope of developing efficient control methods. Such valuable bulbs as Easter llies, parcissus, hyacinths and tulips are being raised under practical field conditions; seed is being matured and an attempt is being made to produce commercial bulbs on an economic scale. One acre of bulbs is being grown under overhead irrigation. The bulb-culture investigations include methods of growing, propagating, cur- ing and adaptability. Several acres of drug dnd poisonous plants are being devoted to experi- mental purposes, while small areas of fiber and cotton plants are raised for research. Both field and greenhouse tests are in progress to ascertain the secrets of “the root- nodule bacteria which inhabit the un- derground parts of leguminous plants. An investigation of the effects of dif- ferent crops and rotations on the micro-flora of the soil is also under way, while a general research of the conditions which influence the growth and multiplication of the beneficial and undesirable bacteria which live in the soil is being conducted. * % ¥ % UGAR beets and sugar cane are being grown for test uses, as well as several acres of artichokes, whose adaptability as producers of / commercial sugar is being studied.f Among the fruit crops, apples pre- dominate, an orchard of about 1,500 trees being one of the farm features. Yield, = disease contro! pollination methods, spraying systems, the de- velopment of blight-resistant pears and other horticultural investigations are being carried on. Grape, currant, raspberry and blackberry growing ex- f periments have been conducted, while,/ ;me. thol inc'll"cltl of A:':ldnnon farm, ly _every variety of ' dm frult. whigh " win grow in this climate has been tested. Nut- culture research has also been in progress for some years. In fact, there is hardly a feature of scientific plant production or problem of crop, fruit and food production but has been l!l;vmln!ed thoroughly at Arlington rim. A remarkable cold-storage laboras tory at Uncle Sam’s great plant-life l' m h“dln cnnnec‘:’t‘lon with studies of fruit and vegetable storage ané the ‘railroad journeys to market of these materials. This cold plant, whose temperature is controlled by the use of a circulatory refrigerated brine system, consists of 16 special cdmpartments whose gross capacity is about eight carloads of perishable food products. Potatoes, citrus fruits, nuts and similar products are stored under & wide range of conditions and tem- peratures in order to determiné those most satisfactory for commercial use. The American cold-storage industry will gain much valuable information from this government research. Thé Bureau of Chemistry operates an interesting color laboratory at Ar- lington farm, where such puzzling problems as the certification of food colors, the standardization of biological stains, the possible uses of lignin and Investigations of dye materials of v: rious kinds are under way. Remark- able experiments relating to the cause and control of grain dust explosions have been made. Space limitations prevent a complete enumeration of all the experimentsl tests which are now In progress or which latterly have been completed at Arlington farm. We have mentioned only a few of the many research investigations. If you will visualize what plant life's greatest proving ground would look like and add this to wi has been mentioned in this article, you will have some comprehensive idea of Arlington farm. This outstanding parcel of northern Virginia property has written wonderful history during the last century, and as long as agri- cultural research . continues it will continue to make new history in the world of science, research and inves- tigation. Women Poor Air Pilots. WOHEN are not fit to pliot pas- senger-carrying _airplanes and they never will be. So declares Ma "They're too fearless! “The fearléss pilot is almost invari- ably a bad pllot,” says the major. “Fear is the best of fying instructors, for it teaches the puplls what not to do, and it warns them in a memorable manner what will happen if they dis- obey. “Women are without this in- penknife in her hand, much the control stick of an airplane.” How Wounds Heal. e e