66 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



averages nearly 3 pecks, while in the humid portions of the eastern 

 United States it is common to sow from 5 pecks to 2 bushels. 



Dry-land grain investigations. — Dry-land grain experiments 

 are now conductcil at Ainarillo and Dalhart, Tex.; Akron, Colo.; 

 Bollefourcho and llighmore, S. Dak. ; Williston and Dickinson, N. Dak. ; 

 Philbrook, Mont.; Nephi, Utah; and Moro, Oreg. The farm at Moro, 

 Oreg., was added during the year and is conducted in cooperation 

 with the Oregon Agricultural Experiment Station. 



Grain-sorghum investigations. — Selected dwarf and early varie- 

 ties of kafir and milo produced during the past season, in spite of the 

 intense dryness, 25 to 50 per cent of their normal yield, while the 

 ordinary larger and later varieties made an average of only 10 to 25 

 per cent of their normal yield. 



Further experiments continue to show the great hardiness and 

 earliness of the Chinese or kowliang sorghums. Considerable work 

 has been done through chemical analyses and milling and baking 

 experiments to determine the probable food value of several kinds of 

 grain sorghum. 



Rice investigations. — Experiments were started this year in 

 South Carolina to determine the best means of controlling rice blast 

 ("rotten-neck") by preventive measures. 



During the summer experiments were also begun in Florida to 

 determine the possibility of growing rice on the land lying between 

 the Everglades and the ocean. Portions of this area during the 

 winter months are profitably used in trucking, but are too wet in 

 summer and early autumn to grow on a commercial scale any other 

 crop than rice. 



Experiments in California were conducted on three types of soil 

 covering a large area in the Sacramento Valley. Two years' results 

 indicate the possibility of growing rice in that region on a commercial 

 scale, the important thing now being to determine the varieties best 

 adapted to the region. 



Interesting results are being obtained in the rice investigations in 

 Louisiana and Texas. In the former State special attention has 

 been given to the eradication of red rice, with some results that are 

 encouraging. 



Oat investigations. — Some very promising pedigree strains of 

 spring oats have now been produced in sufficient quantities to be 

 grown in field tests for the first time. 



Considerable progress has been made in the selection of hardy 

 winter strains, a number now being grown on the Arlington Experi- 

 mental Farm which have developed a considerably greater degree of 

 hardiness than ordinary winter oats. This year several of these 

 strains weighed from 34 to 36 pounds to the measured bushel. 



