56 DEPARTMENTAL REPORTS. 



obtaiiUHl as a result of the plant-breeding work. Tlie garden contains 

 about <) acres of ground, and is provided with a 6-room frame labora- 

 tory building. In cooperation with the Section of Seed and Plant 

 Introduction, a number of plants introduced by that branch of the 

 Department are being tested. It will take some time to complete this 

 work, however, as some of the plants will not fruit for several years. 

 There are now in the garden about 2,000icitrous hyln-ids, 600 pine- 

 apple hybrids, and 200 select guava seedlings. 



HERBARIUM. 



The herbarium is maintained primarily as an aid to the economic 

 work of the Division. It serves the same purpose as the librarj-, and 

 for this reason it is necessary to add to it such material as will facili- 

 tate the more important lines of j)ractical research on the diseases of 

 plants. During the year much material has been added, and that 

 already on hand has been put into better shape for ready i-eference. 

 The herbarium is now thoroughly catalogued, and all the specimens 

 in it are easily accessible. 



CORRESPONDENCE, LECTURES, ETC. 



The Division receives and answers from 5,000 to 6,000 letters a year 

 on many subjects. This correspondence necessarily consumes much 

 time, but it keeps the Division in touch with the needs of horticultur- 

 ists and agriculturists, and for this reason every effort is put forth to 

 make the replies to questions as full as possible. Many of the ques- 

 tions can be answered by forwarding bulletins or circulars of the Divi- 

 sion, but many others require special studies in order to give an 

 intelligent reply. 



During the year various members of the Division have attended 

 farmers' institutes and the meetings of horticultural and other socie- 

 ties for the purpose of delivering lectures and addresses upon mat- 

 ters pertaining to the Department's Avork. It is not practicable to 

 comply with the many requests received for this kind of work, but 

 whenever it can be done efforts are made to attend such meetings, as 

 it is recognized that mutual benefit results therefrom. 



OUTLINE OF WORK FOR THE CURRENT FISCAL YEAR. 



It is planned to enlarge the cereal work during the year, and to this 

 end a number of new lines of investigation are under way. The asso- 

 ciate in charge of this work will return the early part of the current 

 year from Russia, where he has been engaged in collecting cereals for 

 introduction into the United States in cooperation with the Section of 

 Seed and Plant Introduction. It is planned to further continue the 

 studies of the diseases of cereals, especially rusts and smuts. The 

 new forms of cereals that are being introduced and that have been 

 secured as a result of selection and breeding will be treated in the 

 various regions where the most promising results are likely to be 

 obtained from them. 



In the plant-breeding work the cereals present a problem of the 

 greatest magnitude to the countrj-, and wheat in particular is probably 

 the most important of all plants to the plant breeder from the practi- 

 cal side. Selection and hybridization Avitli wheats have already yielded 

 results of striking value in several instances, and varieties giving a 



