REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 79 



has made it advisable to set out in Louisiana a test orchard of an acre 

 to determine its commercial possibilities. 



The call for young trees of the seedless Chinese persimmon which 

 was fruited in North Carolina last 3'ear was so great that special 

 arrangements for the propagation of this variety had to be made, 

 one firm desiring to put in 10 acres of this new sort even before it was 

 full}^ tested by the experts of the Department. 



The imported large-fruited jujubes, which form a very important 

 orchard industry in China, the preserved fruits comparing favorably 

 with dates, have shown themselves adapted to the arid climate of the 

 Southwest, and extensive trials will be undertaken in California and 

 in Texas. 



INVESTIGATIONS IN FARM MANAGEMENT. 



The Department has continued its study of the methods and 

 practices of successful farmers, giving special attention to those 

 types of farming wliich have maintained productiveness over a long 

 period of years. At the same time it has been carrying to the farmer 

 in a practical way many of the scientific facts brought out in its 

 research investigations. Much of the demonstration work is being 

 carried on in close cooperation with the state agricultural colleges 

 and experiment stations. 



Southern farm management. — In the farm-management demon- 

 stration work in the Southern States emphasis has been placed on 

 the importance of winter legumes as a means of putting humus into 

 the soil and preventing leaching and soil washing and as hay crops 

 in a more diversified type of farming. A phase of this work is the 

 teaching of farmers to grow their own suppl}^ of seed of these legumes. 

 In certain parts of the South, where the area of cotton has been cut 

 down because of the ravages of the boll weevil, farmers have been 

 encouraged to grow soy beans as a possible substitute for cotton seed 

 in the production of oil. The same macliincs that are used for 

 extracting cotton-seed oil can be^ employed for extracting the oil 

 from soy beans. The vines and the cake residue are also valuable 

 stock feeds. Cropping systems have been devised for southern 

 farmers entering upon some kind of live-stock farmmg. Many of 

 the industrial schools of the South are giving attention to farming. 

 The Department is cooperating with these institutions in devising 

 plans of management which shall teach correct principles of crop 

 rotation, tillage, and fertilizing. 



Northern farm management. — In addition to the study of 

 farm practice throughout the Northern States, the attempt has 

 been made to assist individual farmers, where located in typical 

 sections, in planning their farm operations. In Maine personal 

 work in demonstrating the method and value of the home mixing of 



