NEW CROP PLANTS AND CROP EXTENSION.

FIBER FOR BINDER TWINE.

Manila maguey, Agave cantala, has been growing in the Philippines many years, and sisal, Agave sisalana, has been introduced into those islands since the American occupation. The cultivation of these plants has been confined chiefly to areas near the coast, where the leaves could be soaked in sea water to soften the pulp and facilitate cleaning the fiber by hand. Cantala, or Manila maguey, was produced more extensively because the plants were more easily obtained and this fiber was more easily cleaned by hand. More than 14,000 tons of this hand-cleaned fiber were exported from the Philippines during the calendar year 1917. Its value for use in binder twine is greatly impaired because the salt from the sea water in which the leaves are soaked attracts crickets and grasshoppers, which destroy the bands while the bundles of grain are standing in the field.

Work carried on in cooperation with the Philippine Bureau of Agriculture during the year resulted in the introduction of the first really efficient machines for cleaning these fibers in the Philippines. One machine, with complete equipment, has been installed in Cebu, and another in Ilocos Sur, where the plants are most abundant. Both machines are doing good work. A third complete outfit has been ordered. The fiber growers in Cebu have formed an organization for the production of machine-cleaned fiber.

It is found that sisal is not only superior to maguey, as was well known before by manufacturers in this country, but that it is cleaned to better advantage by machines. Larger proportions of sisal are therefore being planted. A second introduction of a half million sisal plants from Hawaii has been secured. The use of machines for cleaning the fiber will permit the planting of sisal over large areas suited to its growth away from the coast.

Plantations for supplying leaves for the machines are being planned on a larger scale, and better methods for planting, cultivating, and harvesting are being practiced.

The work is now started under most favorable conditions for the development of sisal production on a large scale in the Philippines. Work on the development of improved strains of sisal and henequen by methods of selection is being continued on an increasing scale in Porto Rico. Trial plantings of sisal and henequen have been made in the dry lands near Quebradillas, in northwestern Porto Rico, and also on Mona Island, where several thousand acres of unused land are apparently adapted to the production of these fiber crops. Propagating stock of these plants has also been furnished for experimental planting in Central and South America, with the hope of developing new centers of production that may become available as the increasing demand for binder-twine fibers exceeds the supplies from Yucatan.

HEMP-FIBER PRODUCTION.

The selection of hemp for securing and maintaining improved strains is being continued. Seeds of the strains that have been demonstrated to be of superior value are sent to growers who raise the seed commercially. This method has been followed during the last

five years, so that most of the hemp now grown in this country consists of these improved strains.

One of the most promising recent introductions is the Tochigi variety from Japan. A plat of this variety grown at St. Joseph, Mo., in 1917 gave an excellent yield of seed, especially on loess soil, and this seed was of good quality and high germination, notwithstanding three severe frosts before the plants were harvested. This season about 100 acres of hemp seed are being cultivated in Missouri. Early-maturing varieties, chiefly of Italian origin, are being grown at Madison, Wis., in cooperation with the Wisconsin Agricultural Experiment Station. This is the third year of selection for some varieties, and the results give promise of the successful production in that State of seed of hemp fully equal to the Ferrara of northern Italy. Several acres of broadcast hemp for fiber are being grown by Wisconsin hemp farmers from seed of the Ferrara selection produced at Madison last fall.

The hemp growers of Wisconsin, organized and encouraged by the cooperation of the experiment station, increased their planting this year to 7,500 acres, compared with 7,000 acres last year, although the unfavorable market which was maintained by dealers and consumers until after the close of the planting season resulted in a total decrease throughout the country of about 10,000 acres from the record crop of 41,000 acres last year. Even this reduced acreage is more than double the average of the last 30 years, and it is all needed, for, with supplies from Russia and Italy cut off, the hemp mills not only of the United States but of the allies also must depend upon the hemp produced in this country. Foreign inquiries are being received, and it is reported that some American hemp has been sold for export, the first instance of this kind in half a century.

PASTURE INVESTIGATIONS.

Cooperative investigations of permanent pastures are being conducted in Virginia and Tennessee. Seedings for permanent pastures have been made in a number of sections of Tennessee. On the Cumberland Plateau and in the section known as the Highland Rim orchard grass and redtop make very good grazing provided the land is limed and acid phosphate is added. Similar work is being planned for the Coastal Plains region around Williamsburg, Va. The utilization of cut-over pine lands in the South continues to be a very important problem, and studies are being conducted with a view to determining the possibilities of these lands for live-stock production. Tests of a large number of grasses are being conducted with a view to finding species that will produce satisfactory pasturage for a considerable period of the year.

RHODES GRASS FOR SALT LANDS.

In the Imperial Valley of southern California Rhodes grass has been found to grow on soils too salty for alfalfa. The conditions there under irrigation are somewhat similar to the conditions where it is extensively grown in Texas.

NAPIER GRASS FOR FORAGE.

Reports from southern California indicate that Napier grass is proving a valuable forage there. In the fall of 1917 cuttings of

Napier grass were sent to several points throughout the Gulf States to test its adaptability to that section, where it is expected it should prove valuable as a winter silage.

EARLY OATS.

The value of early oats, particularly of improved strains, has again been demonstrated in the corn belt. The Albion, a white strain of Kherson developed by this bureau in cooperation with the Iowa station, is now extensively grown in Iowa and adjoining States.

WINTER FLAX.

Preliminary experiments with winter flax at many stations in the Pacific Southwest in 1917 and 1918 have given exceptionally promising results. Damont (C. I. No. 3), a pure-line selection of a northern variety, has been especially good. If needed, a considerable acreage in the irrigated valleys of the Southwest could be devoted to the winter production of flax.

FIG CAPRIFICATION.

The fig insect (Blastophaga psenes) has been successfully colonized on two caprifig trees in southern Georgia, located as a result of a survey of fig trees in this region. The mamme caprifigs passed through the winter of 1917-18 uninjured, and the insect multiplied abundantly in the spring crop, or profichi. Caprifigs from one of these trees were successfully used to caprify the crop of a large seedling fig tree of the Smyrna type, causing a crop to set for the first time in the history of the tree. From published reports and field investigations it appears that there are many such fig trees, of large bearing capacity, which regularly fail to set a crop. The reason seems to be that these trees are chance seedlings of the Smyrna type, requiring pollenization through the agency of the Blastophaga in order to mature a crop. Common or "mule" figs are also improved by the same process (caprification). The greater firmness and increased sugar content of caprified figs should assist in producing a fruit crop suitable for marketing in a fresh state. Breeding by selection of seedlings from caprified figs may be expected to develop types better adapted to the relatively humid climate of the South Atlantic and Gulf States.

PROPAGATION OF THE BLUEBERRY.

Important progress has been made in the domestication and improvement of the blueberry. Several bushes that produce berries three-fourths of an inch or more in diameter have been selected from about 20.000 hybrids that have fruited thus far in the testing plantation at Whitesbog, near Brown Mills, N. J. Only such plants are selected for propagation and distribution as possess fruit with small seeds and delicious flavor, as well as other desirable qualities, such as color, productiveness, and hardiness.

THE CAMPHOR INDUSTRY.

During the past year much attention has been given to the development of labor-saving machinery for use on the camphor plantations

of Florida. The leaves and twigs of the camphor tree, utilized in the production of camphor gum, have been successfully harvested from 2,000 acres of trees by means of the camphor-harvesting machine devised by this bureau. The labor cost of transplanting the young trees from seed bed to field has been materially reduced by the use of suitably modified transplanting machines. Under the usual conditions of planting camphor seed the germination is very poor. It has been determined that seed from which the pulp has been removed just before planting will produce approximately 20 times as many plants as an equal quantity of seed planted without having the pulp removed.

DISTRIBUTION OF NEW AND RARE FIELD SEEDS.

A distribution of new and rare field seeds was made throughout the entire United States, having for its object the dissemination of seed of new and rare field crops, seed of improved strains of staple crops, and high-grade seed of crops new to sections where the data of the department indicate such crops to be of considerable promise. Each package contained a sufficient quantity of seed for a satisfactory field trial, and the recipient was urged to use the seed, if feasible, for the production of stocks for future plantings. A report card and a circular giving full directions for the culture of the crop accompanied each package of seed.

Only seed of new crops or of improved strains of standard crops were distributed, including the following: Dakota-grown, Grimm, Kansas-grown, and Peruvian alfalfas; yellow and white sweet clovers; Brabham, Groit, and Early Buff varieties of cowpeas; feterita; Bangalia, Carleton, and Liberty (Kaiser) field peas; Natal grass and Rhodes grass; Dwarf Blackhull kafir; Kursk millet; Freed, Dakota Amber, Red Amber, and Sumac sorghums; Biloxi, Black Eyebrow, Ito San, Mammoth Yellow, Manchu, Tokio, Virginia, and Wilson-Five varieties of soy beans; Sudan grass; Georgia and Osceola varieties of velvet beans; and Acala, Columbia, Dixie, Durango, Holdon, Lone Star, and Trice varieties of cotton.

During the year 218,918 packages of new and rare field seeds were distributed, including 79.585 packages of cotton seed. Gratifying results were obtained, indicating that by enabling a farmer to secure seed of new and improved crops in sufficient quantity to produce stocks for future seeding the crops of the country are gradually improved.

CONGRESSIONAL SEED DISTRIBUTION.

During the fiscal year 1918 there were distributed on congressional and miscellaneous requests 11,165,709 packages of vegetable seed and 2,188,818 packages of flower seed, or a total of 13,354.527 packages, each containing 5 packets of different kinds of seed. There were also distributed 12,473 packages of lawn-grass seed and 11,110 packages of improved narcissus and tulip bulbs. The seeds and bulbs were purchased on competitive bids, as heretofore. Each lot of seed purchased was thoroughly tested for purity and viability before acceptance by the department, and tests of each lot were conducted on the department's trial grounds to determine trueness to type.

REPORT OF THE FORESTER.

UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE,

FOREST SERVICE, Washington, D. C., October 1, 1918.

SIR: I have the honor to transmit herewith a report of the work in the Forest Service for the fiscal year ended June 30, 1918.

Respectfully,

Hon. D. F. HOUSTON,

Secretary of Agriculture.

HENRY S. GRAVES,

Forester.

THE FOREST SERVICE IN WAR TIMES.

The war has profoundly affected the Forest Service. It has opened new opportunities, presented new problems, and made some old problems more pressing. It has emphasized the value of the work of past years, which provided indispensable foundations for meeting vital needs in the present crucial time. It has also led to the temporary abandonment of many of the old lines of work, the curtailment of others, and the assumption of large new responsibilities. There have taken place, in consequence, a readjustment and in some fields a radical reorganization of activities.

The demands of the Army for fighting men, the eagerness of our personnel (most of whom are of age for military service) to respond to the country's call. the special need of the Army for men qualified to undertake tasks of an unusual character for which the work of the Service has afforded preparation, the call of war industries and essential industries for similar men, the inevitable drain on the personnel created by the opportunities for much more lucrative employment in outside work, and the necessity of maintaining an organization capable of carrying on the activities which must be maintained as a part of the war effort, have all had to be accepted and adjusted to each other. How this has been done, and to what extent the Forest Service is meeting its responsibilities with the Nation in arms, this report will seek to make clear.

Two great fields of work are involved. That which will first be dealt with concerns the National Forests. Integrally related as they are to the economic life of the country and to the production of necessities never before so urgently required as now, their continued administration along lines which would prevent the breakdown of any essential necessity was an obvious duty. No less was it a public duty to release for use elsewhere all the man power that could possibly be spared.