OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 303 



road, and its reservation as an experiment station has been asked for. 

 The development of this station will be dependent on future appro- 

 priations, the present funds for the Alaska investigations being 

 inadequate to provide for any new enterprises. 



HAWAII STATION. 



One of the important accomplishments of the past year was the 

 organization of the extension and demonstration work by the station, 

 as provided for by Congress. This work is of the highest importance 

 at this time, for while the conditions on the larger sugar and pine- 

 apple plantations are very satisfactory, those of the cultivator of 

 small tracts of land are deplorable. The small farmers are not re- 

 ceiving the proportionally increased price for their cane that the 

 market would justify, and the prices offered for their pineapples are 

 much lower than the estimated cost of production. The extension 

 service is attempting to bring about a wider diversification of crops, 

 and, through cooperative associations, to market the produce of the 

 small farmers and purchase their necessities. There are a number 

 of industries that are agriculturally possible in Hawaii, but it re- 

 mains to show that they may be made economically profitable. The 

 station is the only agency that has consistently stood for diversified 

 agriculture, and, if the Territory is to produce its food rather than 

 depend for it upon importations, this work should be considerably 

 extended. 



The investigations of the station have been continued along about 

 the same lines as formerly reported, and some of the results have 

 been published. The studies of the soils of Hawaii, their origin, 

 chemical and physical characteristics, biological relations, and 

 methods of management, which were begun several years ago, have 

 been brought to a close, and a series of bulletins on various phases 

 of the subject have been issued. The conclusions regarding the 

 proper use of fertilizers are quite definite, and if more generally 

 adopted they would doubtless considerably increase crop yields. 



A survey of the forage plants of the Territory has been made in co- 

 operation w^ith various ranchers, and a bulletin issued describing the 

 more important species that have been tested, with suggestions for 

 their proper management. 



An extensive test of green manure crops and forage plants is in 

 progress at the station to determine their adaptability and relative 

 efficiency. September seedings of jack beans and velvet beans have 

 given higher yields of seed and green matter than did seeding at any 

 other time. An introduced plant, Crotalaria sultiana, that has be- 

 come widely disseminated in the islands, has been found valuable 

 as a green manure plant, and its sowing as an intercrop with cane 

 and rubber has been extensively practiced. A demonstration of the 

 value of leguminous crops grown in rotation with pineapples is in 

 progress at Haiku, on the island of Maui. Among the forage-plant 

 experiments tests of a number of varieties of alfalfa have been made, 

 and those from Spain, Kansas, and Utah have outyielded both Turke- 

 stan and Peruvian strains where grown without irrigation and with 

 an annual rainfall of only about 20 inches. Sudan grass, both for 

 soiling and hay, has proved one of the most valuable of the station's 



