BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 155 



CROP UTILIZATION. 



Flax-straw utilizatiox. — Flax straw appears more promising for 

 paper making than any material investigated heretofore. Laboratory 

 work on this material has prepared the way for definite progress in 

 several lines of paper testing. Practical and commercial-sized co- 

 operative tests have been conducted with two fiber-board manufac- 

 turers. Merchantable products were produced which the manu- 

 facturers were able to sell to the trade at a profit. These products 

 were a fiber board used in trunk manufacture and a counter board 

 used extensively in shoe manufacture. 



Crop utilization on reclamation projects. — In 1914 more than 

 50 per cent of the area from which crops were harvested on 23 

 Government reclamation projects was devoted to the production of 

 hay crops and about 30 per cent to the production of cereals. These 

 crops do not bear well the cost of transportation from the projects 

 to the consuming centers, so that it is necessary that there be estab- 

 lished on the projects agidcultural industries through which the hay 

 and cereals produced can be converted into live-stock products which 

 can be marketed at a profit. On some projects the farmers have no 

 difficulty in producing abundant crops of hay, but they have serious 

 difficulty in producing satisfactory crops to use in supplementing 

 hay as a feed for live stock. 



S"v\t:et potatoes. — Plans and specifications for storage houses for 

 the crop have been provided by the department and suggestions 

 regarding the location, building, and management of these houses 

 offered. Attention has also been given to testing the adaptation of 

 different varieties to the several sections in which sweet potatoes are 

 grown for storage purposes. The value of desiccated sweet potatoes 

 as a food for cattle and hogs has been investigated. This work has 

 been carried on in cooperation with the Bureau of Animal Industry, 

 the Office of Horticulture and Pomology of this bureau providing 

 the desiccated products and the Bureau of Animal Industry furnish- 

 ing the stock and conducting the feeding tests. The results indicate 

 that desiccated sweet potatoes form an excellent basis for a ration 

 for growing hogs. 



Oil-plant in\t:stigations. — Investigations of the utilization of 

 waste cherry pits for the production of valuable oils contained in 

 them have been practically completed and the results prepared for 

 publication. Investigations of the extraction of oil from tomato pulp 

 and other sources of cannery waste, and special studies of oils from 

 oil-seed crops, have been undertake? 



INVESTIGATION OF CROP HANDLING AND STANDARDIZATION. 



Common storage for apples. — Studies of proper methods for op- 

 erating common storage houses have shown that through careful at- 

 tention to the management of the common storage houses now exist- 

 ing in the Northwest much greater effectiveness can be secured and 

 crops can be marketed in better condition and to better advantage. 

 A publication outlining the management of common storage houses 

 will be issued shortly, 



