318 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



held at these stations, Avhich form an important feature of the work, 

 have been Largely attended by farmers. Not only are the farmers 

 showing their interest in tlie investigations by attending the insti- 

 tutes, but tliey are putting into practice the lessons drawn from the 

 experiments and demonstrations, and there is a marked demand for 

 the extension and further development of the work. The investi- 

 gations in Virginia are conducted in cooperation with the state ex- 

 periment station, and a special appropriation of $5,000 is made by the 

 State in support of the work. 



In Maryland the investigations have been continued along the same 

 lines as last year, with headquarters at Upper Marlboro and subsidiary 

 centers at I^yons Creek and La Plata. These investigations are being 

 conducted in cooperation with the state experiment station. 



Work in North Carolina and South Carolina. — The work in 

 the so-called " new belt " of the bright flue-cured district of North 

 Carolina, which was begun last year with headquarters at Greenville, 

 in Pitt County, has been continued in cooperation with the State De- 

 partment of Agriculture. In addition to the fertilizer experiments, 

 crop-rotation studies, and variety tests, a special feature receiving 

 attention in this section is the relation of commercial fertilizers to 

 the burning quality of the tobacco. There has been considerable com- 

 plaint in the trade that much of the tobacco produced in this district 

 does not burn freely, and it seems likely that the system of fertilizing 

 is largely responsible for this trouble. During the coming yeav it is 

 planned to extend the general features of the work into the " old belt " 

 of the bright flue-cured district and the darker tobacco district of 

 the State. A problem of vital importance to the tobacco industry 

 of the old belt, more particularly in Granville County, is the control 

 of the Granville wilt. This problem has been taken up in cooperation 

 with the state experiment station both from the standpoint of breed- 

 ing resistant varieties and oJ developing systems of rotation, fertiliz- 

 ing, and cultivation which will control tlie disease. 



The work which has just been begun in South Carolina, with head- 

 quarters at Manning, Clarendon County, will be along the lines fol- 

 lowed in North Carolina. 



Work in Kentucky. — The investigations at Lexington (in the 

 Burley district), at Hopkinsville (in the dark-fired district), and at 

 Hardinsburg (in the Green River district) have been continued; and, 

 in addition, experiments have been undertaken at Bowling Green 

 (in the one-sucker district), in cooperation with the West Kentucky 

 Normal School. All of the work in this State is in cooperation with 

 the state experiment station. 



PLANT-NUTRITION INVESTIGATIONS. 



These investigations, in charge of Dr. W. W. Garner, Physiologist, 

 relate to some of the fundamental problems in plant nutrition of a 

 general nature as distinguished from the nutrition work of the Bureau 

 which has reference to specific crops. These studies include laboratory 

 researches supplemented by practical field tests which are carried on in 

 the Piedmont area of North Georgia, in the Coastal Plain section of 

 eastern South Carolina, and on the Arlington Experimental Farm. 



