94 DEPAKTMENTAL REPOETS. 



maeai'ouis, which arc now largely impoi-lcd into the United States, 

 are made from special varieties of hard wheats which we have not 

 heretofore sjrown commercially in the United States. Several of these 

 macaroni wheats have, however, been secured during the past year 

 from Russia and from Algeria, and the experiments with these vari- 

 eties, if successful (and there is everj- promise of their success), will 

 furnish the basis of a large development of the macaroni-manufac- 

 turing iiuliistry in the United States, and consequently for the pro- 

 duction of macaroni wheats both for home trade aud for export, in 

 those parts of the country to which the experiments now in progress 

 show them to be adapted. Importations have also been made of the 

 winter wheats used in the manufacture of the Hungarian export 

 flours which have a high reputation the world over. If these wheats 

 are as successful in the United States as thej^ are in Hungary a large 

 extension will be made in the area in which our highest-priced bread 

 wheats can be grown, as the wiieats that heretofore have filled this 

 description have been spring wheats, the area of successful cultiva- 

 tion of which has been comparatively limited. 



The determination of the Department to establish the culture of 

 the date in Arizona, in cooperation with the Arizona Agricultural 

 Exijeriment Station, has been prosecuted successfully during the j^ear. 

 Mr. AY. T. Swingle, after a preliminary trip to California and Arizona 

 to ascertain the precise facilities for the receipt and care of the dates 

 after reaching this country, then proceeded to Algeria, secured and 

 packed the date suckers, arrangements for which had been previously 

 made by him, and also secured a large number of additional date 

 l)lants. All these were forwarded to Washington, D. C, and soon 

 after the end of the fiscal year 1000 were shipped through to Arizona, 

 disinfected, and i^roperlj^ planted. There is, therefore, now estab- 

 lished at a suitable spot in Arizona and under the joint administration 

 of the Arizona experiment station and the Department of Agi-iculture 

 a date garden in which are growing successfull}' about 500 plants of 

 the best varieties of dates known in the Mediterranean region. As 

 these plants develop suckers a distribution of stock will be made to 

 individuals in the Southwest who are properly situated for handling 

 this crop. 



It is gratifying to learn that the fig-fertilizing insect secured in Asia 

 Minor for the Division of Entomology by Mr. W. T. Swingle while 

 engaged in the plant-introduction work and successfully established 

 in California by that Division promises, as reported by the Entomolo- 

 gist, to revolutionize the fig industry of that State. 



Tlie Department's investigation of the cultivation of Bermuda lily 

 bulbs in the United States was continued, during the year, Mr. M. G. 

 Kains making two visits to the Bermudas and to various i^oints in 

 the Southern States for that purpose. These experiments have not 

 yet sufitlciently i^rogressed to warrant their full publication, but it may 

 be stated that at the i)i'esent time there is excellent promise that the 

 industry may be established at favorable localities in the Southern 

 States. 



An oi3portunity having been afforded the Department of Agriculture 

 to make an examination of the agricultural crops of the uj^per Yangtze 

 Yalley in China, i^articularl}^ in the Province of Szechuan, arrange- 

 ments were made in the spring by which JMr. G. D. Brill, an American 

 agriculturist who for two years has been resident at AYachang, was 

 to j)roceed up the Y''angtiZe River to secure for introduction into the 

 United States some of the valuable agricultural products of that 



