340 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



continued, as mentioned in the previous report. The jDhint-nutrition 

 studies are also hoinfr continued ni somewhat increased areas. Consid- 

 erable attention has been ii!;iven to the impro\einent of forcing-house 

 crops by seed selection. About 4i pounds of lettuce seed, »i pounds of 

 cauliflower seed, and 1;,' pounds of tomato seed from specially selected 

 forcing-type jilants have been obtained during the year. 



HORTICULTURAL INVESTIGATIONS. 



The special work on horticultural crops has been continued during 

 the year and good progress has been made along a number of lines. 



Thish-potato INVESTIGATIONS. — The work with Irish potatoes has 

 been strengthened and increased by engaging the services of Prof. 

 William Stuart, Expert. Since the potato is one of the most im- 

 portant of American crops, the work which has already been com- 

 menced should be rapidly extended. Studies of disease resistance 

 of potatoes, which have been under way for several years, have been 

 continued in cooperation with the Vermont Agricultural Experiment 

 Station. A number of the more promising disease-resistant varieties 

 of European and American origin were grown at St. Albans, Vt., on a 

 scale sufficient to supply seed tubers for distribution purposes. These 

 varieties were sent out during the. spring of 1910 to growers in Min- 

 nesota, Wisconsin, Michigan, Ohio, New York, Pennsylvania, Vir- 

 ginia, and West Virginia for the purpose of testing their adaptability 

 and disea.se-resistant qualities over a much wider area than has been 

 heretofore possible. 



The California potato investigations heretofore carried on by the 

 Office of Cotton and Truck Disease Investigations have been largely 

 transferred to this office. Professor Stuart spent two months in Cali- 

 fornia the past spring in conducting experimental investigations of 

 the scab disinfection of seed potatoes by the formaldehyde gas treat- 

 ment and in planting variety trials and fertilizer tests in the great 

 potato fields of the Sacramento River region. - 



Peanut in%^stigations. — During the past year great progress has 

 been made in the use of the peanut as a unit in the crop-rotation system 

 of the boll-weevil districts of Texas and Louisiana. Experiments in 

 the manufacture of peanut oil have been carried to a point which 

 leaves no doubt that peanut oil is a commercial possibility in this 

 country. The market demand for peanuts and the status of the crop 

 are such as to w^arrant a great and profitable increase in the acreage 

 in this country, and until this demand is satisfied there is little hope 

 of developing the peanut-oil industry. 



The experiments with Spanish peanuts conducted in Louisiana and 

 Texas last season gave very satisfactory results, demonstrating that 

 on the sandy soils of the boll-weevil districts peanuts are generally 

 now more profitable than cotton. In the older peanut district of 

 Virginia and North Carolina demonstrations in crop rotation and the 

 maintenance of soil fertility have been begun. 



During the past year cooperative seed selection has been continued 

 with certain growers of peanuts. A certain grower during the 

 present season planted 53 acres with selected seed from plants of 

 highly productive qualities, and he is rapidly establishing a reputa- 

 tion for high-grade seed peanuts. 



