spread alarm, and so many calls for help and advice on this subject have been made by both State officers and private citizens that during the past year a great deal of time has been devoted to this subject. Since whatever is done to control this disease must apparently be done within the next three years, the work on the general diseases of ornamental and shade trees has been suspended for the time being, as well as all work in the East on the damping-off diseases; and many minor features of other projects have been curtailed in order to apply more time and money to the study of the chestnut bark disease.

The methods of quarantine and destruction of advance infections advocated by this bureau have been put into execution in the State of Pennsylvania, where an adequate appropriation has been made by the State for the work; and if the results of the cooperative work now going on in Massachusetts, Rhode Island, New York, and Maryland indicate that the disease has not spread too far it is probable that similar work will soon be organized in those States.

Plans for the present year involve a continuation of the work already begun, namely (1) extensive field and laboratory studies of the nature and spread of the disease, (2) cooperative surveys of the various States to determine the practicability of an organized stand against the disease, and (3) studies of possible methods of curing individual trees already affected. Plans for next year are to further continue this same work, as may be found necessary, but with particular reference to the Southern States, since it is imperative that, if possible, the disease be prevented from spreading south of the Potomac River.

A Farmers' Bulletin on this subject is now in press and a technical bureau bulletin ready for press.

BLISTER RUST OF THE WHITE PINE.-Work on the blister rust of white pine, under the immediate direction of Dr. Perley Spaulding, has continued with success, since, so far as can be ascertained, the disease has not even yet obtained a permanent foothold in the United States. But importations of diseased stock are still freely made. It is obvious, therefore, that work on this disease must continue until the importation of nursery stock of this species is prohibited by law. No other entirely practicable method of dealing with this disease has been suggested.

FOREST HYGIENE.--Work on forest hygiene has been carried on for several years by Dr. George G. Hedgcock. The preliminary work indicated, as previously reported, that great reduction of disease in forests and decay in cut timber can be made by certain modifications and refinements of current forest practice and wood-preservation methods. Work on this basis, in close cooperation with the Forest Service, has now been carried on for more than a year. In district 5 of the Forest Service Dr. E. P. Meinecke has been particularly successful in bringing about changes in timber-sale contracts, involving the routine destruction of diseased trees, so that only healthy trees are left to be progenitors of the future forest. This work will be extended to districts 1, 2, and 3. From the locating of an expert forest pathologist in each of the national districts. much is to be expected, particularly in the suppression of new or imported diseases. For example, if the chestnut bark disease had

started in a National Forest, instead of in New York, it would have been eradicated as a matter of routine before infection could become general. The continuation of this work without change of personnel or policy during the fiscal years 1912 and 1913 is contemplated.

COTTON AND TRUCK-CROP DISEASES AND SUGAR-PLANT

INVESTIGATIONS.

The investigations of cotton and truck-crop diseases and of sugar plants have been continued during the year in charge of Mr. W. A. Orton. A brief summary of the progress made in these lines of work follows. Assisting in the investigations during all or a part of the year have been H. A. Edson and J. B. Norton, physiologists; L. L. Harter, W. W. Gilbert, F. J. Pritchard, and H. B. Shaw, assistant pathologists; F. A. Wolf and W. B. Clark, experts; C. F. Clark, G. F. Miles, Miss Ethel C. Field, and Miss Clara O. Jamieson, scientific assistants; and J. F. Reed and E. C. Rittue, assistants.

SUGAR-PLANT INVESTIGATIONS.

The work on sugar-plant investigations has been materially extended during the past year. Field stations have been established at Garden, Kans., and Rocky Ford, Colo. Most of the work formerly conducted at Garland, Utah, has been transferred to Ogden, Utah.

SUGAR-BEET DISEASES.-The work on the control of the curly-top is being continued with the purpose of discovering remedial measures and to gain a more thorough knowledge of the physiological operation of the disease.

The station at Rocky Ford was inaugurated for the express purpose of thoroughly studying the leaf-spot disease (Cercospora beticola), looking to the discovery of the complete life history of the fungus and effective methods of control. A pathologist and assistant are stationed on the ground, where adequate laboratory facilities. with about 20 acres of experimental plats and ample greenhouse facilities have been placed at their disposal through cooperation with the American Beet Sugar Co.

Work upon the root troubles of sugar beets to be conducted at various field stations and in Washington is contemplated for the ensuing year.

CULTURE OF THE SUGAR BEET.-Agronomic studies having in view improvements in the culture of sugar beets under the direction of Dr. C. O. Townsend, collaborator, have been begun at the field stations, particularly in Garden, Kans., where a large acreage and ample laboratory facilities have been placed at the disposal of the bureau. Demonstration work looking to the adoption of improved cultural practice has been inaugurated in the Arkansas Valley in cooperation with the Holly Sugar Co.

IMPROVEMENT OF THE SUGAR BEET.-The breeding work has been very much increased and thoroughly reorganized during the past year. Single-germ breeding is being continued, while the breeding of beets for improved yield and quality has been very much extended. Breeding for alkali and drought resistance and for earlymaturing strains is being continued along former lines.

PROGRESS OF THE BEET-SUGAR INDUSTRY.-The work on the beetsugar industry was conducted as heretofore under the direction of Mr. Charles F. Saylor until his death, which occurred during the past spring. The continuance of the work, possibly in a modified form, is contemplated.

SPECIAL SUGAR-PLANT INVESTIGATIONS.-The work upon sorghum has been continued along former lines and plans made for its material extension.

The work upon the bacteria of maple sap has been continued, the field studies having been completed. It is hoped that the work upon this problem can be closed up during the ensuing year.

Preliminary work upon the diseases of sugar cane has been begun and plans for its extension are formulated.

COTTON DISEASES.

The breeding work with wilt-resistant varieties of cotton has been continued, and more than 2,000 bushels of seed of the Dixie and Dillon varieties were grown last season under our supervision by cooperating farmers and were sold by them for use in wilt-infected territory. The spread of wilt and root-knot has greatly increased. To meet the situation work has been successfully begun in cooperation with the Office of Farmers' Cooperative Demonstration Work of this bureau, the South Carolina Agricultural Experiment Station, and the Georgia State Board of Entomology to increase very materially under competent supervision the production of seed of reliable wilt-resistant varieties of cotton. This work is unifying all the agencies in the southern field for the more effective introduction of wilt-resistant varieties into agriculture and the dissemination of information with regard to the control of cotton and cowpea wilt and root-knot. The extension of this work to other States is planned as soon as funds are available. The work having for its object the production of wilt-resistant varieties adapted for use in boll-weevil territory is making satisfactory progress and will be continued.

TRUCK-CROP DISEASES.

BREEDING WILT-RESISTANT WATERMELON.-The watermelon breeding work has been continued. Two hundred pounds of seed of the new Conqueror, a wilt-resistant melon bred by this bureau, are being grown for the coming winter's distribution. Additional work in the development of strains adapted to use in the Pacific States is planned.

SWEET-POTATO WORK.-A new line of work on the diseases of sweet potatoes has been started and is being actively pushed. It is expected that important information relating to the causes of the diseases, the life history of the causal organisms, and the proper field treatment for the control of the troubles will result.

BREEDING RUST-RESISTANT ASPARAGUS.-Asparagus breeding work has been continued during the past year. The first pedigree seedlings from select rust-resistant plants were grown in 1910 at Concord, Mass. A severe attack of rust on the station grounds showed that some of these pedigree lots were highly resistant to rust and demonstrated the complete success of the breeding methods. One male

plant has been found that transmits to its offspring both rust resistance and increased vigor in a marked degree. This plant is being used with the best female plants to develop progenies of practically rust-immune asparagus. The best breeding plants are being propagated by division to increase the output of resistant seed. The extension in the near future of this work to the Southern States is planned.

DEMONSTRATION SPRAYING.-A very important line of work in the demonstration spraying of cantaloupes and cucumbers is being started this season in Florida and New Jersey. Large financial losses are annually caused by leaf diseases preventable by spraying, and in many sections the industry has been given up because of these diseases.

MISCELLANEOUS DISEASES.

An investigation of ginseng diseases in cooperation with the Cornell University Agricultural Experiment Station has been undertaken. Malnutrition studies have been continued and two bulletins giving the practical results of the work have been published through the Virginia Truck Experiment Station at Norfolk, Va.

The cowpea breeding work to secure varieties resistant to wilt and root knot which are more productive and erect than the Iron has been continued and this year the most promising strains are being increased to provide for more extended trials next season.

A plant-disease survey of the San Antonio, Tex., area has been completed and a report on the work is in press.

SOIL-BACTERIOLOGY AND WATER-PURIFICATION INVESTI

GATIONS.

The investigations in soil bacteriology and water purification have continued in charge of Mr. Karl F. Kellerman.

WORK WITH NODULE-FORMING BACTERIA.-Pure cultures of noduleforming bacteria for inoculating approximately 25,000 acres of leguminous crops were distributed during the fiscal year 1911. The use of pure cultures is believed to be one method of avoiding the dissemination of crown-gall, which affects leguminous crops as well as orchard trees.

During the fiscal year ending June 30, 1912, more detailed field work will be taken up in connection with the experimental distribution of these pure cultures, and it is planned to continue the field investigations in connection with the laboratory and field studies upon the correlation of bacterial growth and crop production.

FARM WATER SUPPLIES.-Advisory correspondence in regard to the improvement of farm water supplies has been carried on and in some cases personal supervision of improvements has been undertaken. This work will be continued and occasionally supplemented by demonstrations of simple methods for improvement during the present and coming fiscal years.

STUDIES IN SOIL BACTERIOLOGY.-Detailed studies of certain bacterial conditions obtaining at Fallon, Nev., Logan, Utah, and in the vicinity of Washington, D. C., have been carried on. These studies cover the investigation of the relative nitrifying and nitrogen-fixing power

of agricultural soils in the regions mentioned and the isolation and correlation of the cellulose-dissolving organisms from different types of soil. During the fiscal year 1913 the relation of cellulose destruction by various types of soil organisms, especially in connection with the utilization of different types of green manures, to crop-producing power will be investigated both under greenhouse conditions at Washington and under field conditions at Fallon and other points in the West.

CROP-PHYSIOLOGY AND BREEDING INVESTIGATIONS.

The investigations in crop physiology and breeding have been continued during the year under the immediate direction of Mr. Walter T. Swingle, assisted by Prof. S. C. Mason, arboriculturist in charge of dry-land arboricultural investigations; Mr. G. P. Rixford, expert in fig investigations; and Mr. E. M. Savage, assistant plant breeder. They have for their object the determination of the exact climatic, soil, and cultural requirements of important crop plants. A study of the factors underlying the physiology of crop production is essential not only for the determination of the best methods of culture and the special treatments demanded to insure success in given localities, but also to determine the direction in which plants can most advantageously be modified by the plant breeder. An especial feature of the work has been the search for deep-rooted and drought-resistant tree crops better adapted for culture in the dry-land regions of the United States than the shallow-rooted annual crops now grown.

HARDY CITRUS FRUITS.-This work, which is of great interest to the people living in the cotton belt, has been pushed vigorously during the past year. At present some 5,000 hybrids a year are being made and about 15,000 hybrids are under observation, constituting probably the largest collection of hybrid fruits of definitely known parentage under study in this part of the world.

At the same time, through the cooperation of the Office of Foreign Seed and Plant Introduction, a number of very hardy types of citrus fruits which promise to give better hybrids than any now under observation have been obtained from Australia, Asia, Africa, and other regions.

In particular, the Australian desert lime, the hardiest of all the evergreen citrus fruits, is of the greatest promise in breeding new types. In addition to bearing edible fruits, it is drought resistant and has the very desirable quality of remaining dormant during spells of warm weather in winter.

It is now clear that some four or five new types of citrus fruits can be produced, covering all of the Cotton States and ranging from Florida to the Ohio and Potomac Rivers. For the regions just outside the present limits of citrus culture, hardy types of oranges and grape fruit suitable for eating from the hand will undoubtedly be produced, as well as hardy lemons and limes, while for the northern limits there will be deciduous trees bearing small fruits suitable for making ade and for general culinary purposes.

The entire line of this work is proving of such unusual promise that it will be pushed even more vigorously during the coming year than in the past.