REPORT OF THE BOTANIST. 



IT. S. Department of Agriculture, 



Division of Botany, 



Washington, D. C, October 12, 1900. 



Sir: I have the honor to transmit herewith my eightli annual report 

 as Botanist of the Department of Agriculture, covering the year 

 ending June 30, 1900. 

 Respectfully, 



Frederick Y. Covit.le, 



Botanist. 

 Hon. James Wilson, Secretary. 



WORK OF THE YEAR. 



PLANT HOUSE. 



The construction of the plant house, authorized in the appropria- 

 tion for the fiscal year 1809, was completed and the building ready 

 for experimentation in October, 18!)9. This house has been particu- 

 larly useful in connection with our pure-seed investigations and our 

 plant-introduction Avork. All our germination tests have been con- 

 ducted in the building, and the head house has been used also as a 

 photographic laboratory. In the greenhouse have been grown a stock 

 of different species of rubber-producing plants and a number of other 

 seeds and plants introduced from foreign countries, which it was 

 desirable to propagate before they were distributed. The excellent 

 facilities afforded by this plant house and the important service it has 

 rendered in our investigations amply demonstrate the A\isdoin of the 

 appropriation for building it. 



POTOMAC FLATS. 



Tlie testing garden on the Potomac Flats, the use of which by the 

 Department of Agriculture was authorized bj^ Congressioiml action, 

 as detailed in my last annual report, has been an important addi- 

 tion to the experimental facilities of the Division. During the sum- 

 mer of 1899 and the following winter the ground was several times 

 plowed and harrowed in order to keep the weeds in check and kill the 

 cutworms. In the spring of the present year the garden was fenced 

 and an additional plowing and harrowing brought the soil into excel- 

 lent condition for experimental work. 



Of the total area of 25 acres, 12 acres were allotted to the uses of the 

 Division of Botany, 5 to the Division of Agrostology, 5 to the Division 

 of Vegetable Physiology and Pathology, 2 to the Division of Chemistry, 

 and 1 to the Division of Pomology. The area kept under experimental 



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