BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY, 181 



Cooperative relationships have been established with the Leland 

 Stanford University whereby that institution has set aside an area 

 not to exceed 20 acres of land, on which, as the needs of the work 

 grow, the seedlings resulting from the breeding work will be planted,, 

 and certain special material desired for use in this work not obtain- 

 able elsewhere will be planted and grown under conditions that will 

 make it most readily available for use. The change of location from 

 Chico to Palo Alto places the headquarters for the breeding work 

 in a section where there are large deciduous-fruit interests, a section 

 which is very much more favorable for the growing of the material 

 resulting from breeding than was the case at Chico. It is felt that 

 this arrangement will prove of far-reaching value to the work, 



APPLES. 



AjDple scab was introduced into the United States from Europe,, 

 being first noted in Xew York and Pennsylvania about 1834, whence 

 it spread over the northern apple section. It is still spreading in this 

 country, particularly in the newer apple sections of the West. Scab 

 is probably the most serious disease of apples with which growers 

 have to contend. In 1920 it caused an estimated loss of 6 per cent 

 of the apple crop, or 7,000,000 bushels. During the present year^ 

 1922, this disease is epidemic in some sections on account of the wet 

 season, and the losses to the apple crop will exceed those of 1920. 

 Proper spraying with lime-sulphur solution is well known to be an 

 effective remedy for this trouble. 



DATES. 



The prospect of soon being able to obtain plants of the best- 

 known varieties of dates adapted to American conditions has re- 

 lieved the pressure for nurser}' stock of indiscriminate character^ 

 and what appeared to be a critical danger — the extensive planting of 

 inferior varieties — seems now to be fairly well passed. The fact, too, 

 that under the contracts made with persons handling the imported 

 offshoots the increase can only be sold at specified maximum figures 

 for each variety has also tended to stabilize the nursery end of the 

 date industry. 



STRAWBERRIES. 



Strawberry breeders in the United States will be interested in the 

 recent introduction from Ecuador and Chile of several horticultural 

 forms of Fragaria chUoensis^ the Chilean strawberry. This species 

 was introduced into Europe in 1714 and took part in the development 

 through hybridization of the present-day garden strawberries. Pre- 

 vious to the department's recent inyestigation of the subject, no ade- 

 quate study had been made of the cultivation of this berry in South 

 America, where it forms in certain regions an important culture, 

 nor had several choice strains which are there cultivated been intro- 

 duced into the United States for the use of plant breeders. By com- 

 bining these with the horticultural forms now grown in this coun- 

 try new strawberries of superior shipping quality, drought resistance^ 

 and flavor appear likely to be secured. 



