ADAPTABILITY OF CORN.-Each succeeding year's work more and more reveals the great adaptability of maize. In previous reports mention has been made of two series of five-year tests, which show that the relative productiveness of a variety in a given locality depends upon the location in which the variety has been previously cultivated. The past year's tests show that the growing of a variety for but four years in a new locality may cause it to become much more productive there and much less productive in the original locality than the original seed. Varieties from Mexico and South America when grown in the different sections of this country not only assume an appearance and productiveness unlike that which they exhibit in their native habitat, but assume different appearances in different parts of this country. This variation induced by change of environment affords good opportunities for selection. Very profitable strains are being produced in this way and by crossbreeding.

OUTLINE OF WORK NOW IN PROGRESS.

WORK IN THE CORN BELT.-The cooperative work arranged with local breders, corn breeders' associations, and cooperative corn clubs is more extensive than last year. Investigations of methods of breeding, planting, and cultivating, of effects of cover crops and crop rotation, and of methods of preserving seed corn are in progress. At the points where strains are being bred for increased productiveness these strains are being tested in comparison with many local and introduced varieties, and about 500 cooperative variety tests are in progress. Crossbred seed like that which last year proved much more productive than either parent is being produced in considerable quantity in order that its productiveness may be extensively tested by cooperators.

WORK OUTSIDE OF THE CORN BELT.-In many sections where the requirements for good corn crops are not understood, and where varieties and their adaptation are not considered, suggestions and demonstrations made by the experts of the bureau are of special value and greatly appreciated by those who find it advisable to grow corn. There are reclaimed swamps, deltas, and everglades that give promise of producing good corn crops as soon as adapted varieties, the best planting time, and the most practical methods of culture are determined. There are many localities in the mountains and in districts recently brought under irrigation where corn is not an article of commerce, but where it is much needed, and where present attempts at corn culture could be made doubly as profitable as at present. Because of the good results and appreciation which have followed the work outside the corn belt, as much is being done as the funds and force will permit.

PLANS FOR FUTURE WORK.

The work of breeding higher yielding strains of corn and of testing their productiveness in comparison with local varieties and crosses has been shown to be of such great value in the few localities in which it has been conducted, and is so certain to bring results of profit to the farmer that plans have been made for an extension of

this work into such districts as are poorly supplied with reliable and productive varieties. The field tests recently conducted by county corn improvers and breeders' associations in cooperation with the bureau have proved that such organized tests attended with public observations and field-day exercises are of more profit to a community than very many tests by individual farmers with opportunity for few to observe. Plans are being made to give all possible assistance to these tests and of organizing competitive corn-improvement clubs with awards to those increasing the producing power of their corn most rapidly. Plans are also under consideration for making every corn farmer as fully aware of the profits of seed-corn preservation as are those who have built seed-corn houses and thereby increased their crop enough in one year to pay several times the expense of building.

Important problems that can be solved by well-planned investigations each year financially affect every corn grower. Since it has been demonstrated that the degree of dryness and of temperature at which seed corn is held during the winter greatly influences its productiveness, it is very important to determine the exact conditions that result in highest productiveness. By proper investigation other first-generation crosses can be discovered which, like U. S. Cross No. 182, will prove of very great value in certain localities, and plans and methods for discovering such crosses and demonstrating their superiority have been adopted for various districts. Plans are made to extend the investigations of the insect-resistant, disease-resistant, and drought-resistant characters of corn and to determine the most practicable substances for preventing insect and fungous destruction of germinating seed corn.

TOBACCO INVESTIGATIONS.

GENERAL FEATURES OF THE INVESTIGATIONS.

The tobacco investigations of the bureau in charge of Dr. W. W. Garner have been continued largely along the lines followed in the past, although some additional problems of importance have been taken up. Experiments and demonstrations have been carried out in the more important tobacco districts of the States of Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Kentucky, Maryland. Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, and Texas.

The more general features of the work are the improvement in yield and quality by breeding and selection combined with systematic variety tests, the determination of the plant-food requirements of the crop in the various tobacco districts, and the development of the best systems of crop rotation applicable to tobacco culture. Some or all of these problems have been taken up in each of the States mentioned and while in every case the work is shaped to meet local requirements the results will afford a sound basis for developing improved methods of tobacco culture of more or less general applicability. Special laboratory and field investigations relating to curing, fermentation, the control of diseases, etc., are taken up in those districts where most needed.

For the purposes of sound and effective practical demonstrations in improved methods it is recognized that, because of the fact that the

tobacco industry is based on a number of characteristic types, each requiring special methods of production, the demonstrations must be based on local experiment. To meet this requirement field stations are maintained in the principal tobacco districts and the experimental data obtained are utilized in conducting the demonstrations illustrative of the most profitable methods of tobacco culture.

As a counterpart to the breeding investigations which have been in progress for several years, experiments have been taken up this year with pure strains of several characteristic varieties of tobacco for the purpose of making a systematic study of the effects of environment on the habits of growth of the plant and on the quality of the cured leaf.

INVESTIGATIONS IN CIGAR-TOBACCO DISTRICTS.

WORK IN THE CONNECTICUT VALLEY.-Cooperative studies with growers as to the value of the steam sterilization of seed beds in controlling calico or the mosaic disease have been continued, as have also the tests with different sources of phosphorus in increasing the yield and reducing rust in the broadleaf section. The special feature of the investigations in tobacco curing in this section this year is a study of the effect of different temperatures on the color and other qualities of the cured leaf.

WORK IN NEW YORK.-Experiments in the most profitable use of fertilizers and the best systems of crop rotation adapted to tobacco culture are in progress in both the Onondaga and the Big Flats districts. The Haynes type of filler tobacco as improved by the bureau is proving very satisfactory in the Onondaga district.

WORK IN PENNSYLVANIA AND OHIO.-The work in Pennsylvania, which at present is confined to Lancaster County, consists in the improvement in yield and in uniformity of the filler types by breeding and selection. A detailed study with respect to yield is being made of selected strains of Pennsylvania Broadleaf. In Ohio cooperative tests with growers are being made of several promising hybrids adapted for filler purposes and these are being introduced to the trade.

WORK IN TEXAS.-The demonstrations of the best methods of fertilizing and the best systems of crop rotation adapted to the growing of filler tobacco from Cuban seed which were begun last year at Nacogdoches in cooperation with the State experiment station are being continued this season. Comparative tests of several desirable varieties of filler tobacco are also being made.

INVESTIGATIONS IN MANUFACTURING AND EXPORT TOBACCO DISTRICTS.

Investigations are in progress this year in Maryland, in the Burley and Hopkinsville districts of Kentucky, in the sun-cured, the firecured, and the flue-cured districts of Virginia, in the "old belt" of North Carolina, and in the "new belt " of North Carolina and South Carolina. The average yield of tobacco per acre, owing primarily to depletion of the supply of humus in the soils, is far less than it should be in most of these districts. The problem of introducing legumes into tobacco rotations, which offers some difficulty because of the effect of these crops on the quality of the tobacco, is receiving special attention this year in Maryland and the Carolinas.

WORK IN KENTUCKY AND MARYLAND.-The study of the comparative value of several strains and varieties of Burley tobacco and of the fire-cured types is being continued at Lexington and Hopkinsville in Kentucky. Tests are being made at Hopkinsville to determine the best available source of phosphorus for the tobacco crop. In Maryland the prolonged drought has made it impossible to carry out certain features of the investigations this year, but the fertilizer experiments are being continued and special tests as to the possibility of utilizing cowpeas, crimson clover, and vetch in improving the tobacco lands without injuring the quality of the tobacco have been taken up.

WORK IN VIRGINIA.-A change in the plan of conducting the cooperative tobacco experiments in Virginia has been made, whereby the management of the local stations in the several tobacco districts is left in the hands of the State experiment stations, while the supervision of the tobacco work at these stations remains with the bureau. The experiments and demonstrations are being continued along practically the same lines as in the past.

WORK IN NORTH CAROLINA AND SOUTH CAROLINA.-Owing to the largely increased appropriation of the State in support of the work the investigations in North Carolina have been very much extended this year, and experiments are now in progress in each of the three sections of the State producing different modifications of the fluecured type. The various local types and strains of tobacco are being given comparative tests as to yield and quality of leaf produced and two new hybrids are being developed to secure increased yields. Fertilizer tests and crop-rotation studies with special reference to the use of cowpeas and crimson clover as soil improvers are in progress at each of the three local stations. It is planned to utilize the experimental data thus obtained as rapidly as available in making practical demonstrations in cooperation with leading growers in improved methods of tobacco production.

Experiments in improved methods of flue curing have been taken up and investigations looking to the control of the Granville wilt have been continued in Granville County, these features of the work being conducted in cooperation with the State station.

The work in South Carolina, which is located in Florence and Clarendon Counties, is along essentially the same lines as in North Carolina and includes tobacco breeding and variety tests, fertilizer experiments, and crop-rotation studies.

PLANT-NUTRITION INVESTIGATIONS.

The investigations in charge of Dr. W. W. Garner relating to some of the fundamental problems in plant nutrition of a general nature have been continued along the same lines as last year. The work includes laboratory studies and field experiments under varying soil and climatic conditions, the facilities at the Arlington Experimental Farm being utilized as far as practicable.

RELATION OF NUTRITION TO THE CHARACTER AND COMPOSITION OF THE PLANT. The specific influence of the various elements of plant food on the production of the valuable constituents of agricultural plants is being investigated. Much work has been done with cotton and

soy beans with respect to the factors influencing oil production, and this year peanuts and flax have been included in these experiments. In carrying out the field experiments the use of plats in a series, with a comprehensive system of checks, is supplemented with tests in large pots set in the field, the aim being to combine the desirable features of greenhouse pot cultures with those of field-plat tests.

FUNCTIONS OF THE SECONDARY ELEMENTS OF PLANT FOOD.-A large number of carefully controlled field plats are being used this year in tests with several crops as to the value of the secondary elements contained in mineral-fertilizer salts in favorably affecting crop growth. Recent investigations in this field have emphasized the possible practical importance of the subject.

One of the principal problems in connection with these investigations is the development of satisfactory methods for properly controlling the various factors of environment affecting plant growth, for without such methods little can be accomplished in differentiating between these several factors and heredity in crop plants. Large cylinders of earthenware so placed and managed as to permit the growing of plants under normal field conditions give promise of proving very useful in this work.

DRY-LAND AGRICULTURAL INVESTIGATIONS.

The investigations in dry-land agriculture in the Great Plains area under the direction of Mr. E. C. Chilcott have progressed along the lines set forth in previous reports. As a result of a material increase in the appropriation for this work for the current fiscal year three new stations are being established. One of these is located near Ardmore, in Fall River County, S. Dak.; one near Tucumcari, N. Mex.; and the third in the southern part of the "Panhandle" of Texas. The crop season has been a very trying one throughout the Great Plains region. Except at the extreme northern and southern ends of this region, the season has been exceptionally dry, and at several of the stations no crops were harvested. Such seasons as this fully demonstrate the importance of this line of investigations, and the need of a considerable number of these stations at different points in the area has been shown this year, when, notwithstanding crop failures at some of the stations, results of great value have been obtained from the experiments at others.

The results of the investigations in crop rotation and tillage methods have been published during the past year. The interest in. this work is shown by the fact that the first edition of 10,000 copies of the bulletin was quickly exhausted and it has been necessary to issue two subsequent editions to meet the demand for information.

Cooperative relations with the State experiment stations of the different States in which the work is conducted have continued on a satisfactory basis.

WESTERN AGRICULTURAL EXTENSION.

The Office of Western Agricultural Extension, under the direction of Mr. Carl S. Scofield, has continued during the past year to operate a number of field stations for the Bureau of Plant Industry at various points in the Western States. With the exception of the