OFFICE OF EXPERIMENT STATIONS. 751 



end of the fiscal year the flock of sheep had been increased to 74 by 

 the birth of lambs. 



At the Fairbanks Station the work is chiefly that of maintaining 

 a g-eneral farm. Sixty-tive acres are under plow and some 40 or 50 

 acres cleared for meadow. The principal work during the past year 

 was the growing of oats for feed and grain and an experiment in 

 which 11 acres of potatoes were planted to determine the conmiercial 

 possibilities of producing this crop. The object of the experiments 

 IS to determine whether hay and grain can be profitably grown in the 

 interior of Alaska. There are a number of successful market garden- 

 ers about Fairbanks, and it is not intended to compete with them by 

 going into general vegetable growing. 



A few additions have been made to the buildings of the Alaska 

 stations, the principal being a 100-ton silo and a horse and sheep barn 

 at the Kodiak Station, a combined granary, shop, and implement 

 shed at Rampart, and a combined shop, tool house, and implement 

 shed at Fairbanks. 



HAWAII STATION. 



No important changes were made in the staff of the Hawaii Sta- 

 tion during the past year. A new office and library building was 

 erected from funds generously supplied by the Territory of Hawaii. 

 The new building gives better library facilities than the old one, and 

 in addition contains offices for the special agent in charge, clerical 

 force, entomologist, and agronomist. The old concrete building, with 

 some modification, is now occupied wholly as laboratories for the 

 chemist and horticulturist. 



On March 25, 1910, an executive order was issued transferring to 

 this Department the land formerly reserved for the Navy Depart- 

 ment but occupied by the station under agreement with the Secretary 

 of the Navy. The cultivated area of the station was increased dur- 

 ing the year by the clearing of about 10 acres, most of which have 

 been planted to cotton, bananas, and papayas. 



Since the station began the experiments with cotton much interest 

 has been taken in this crop, and about 500 acres have been planted, 

 with every indication of much larger plantings m the near future^ 

 The experiments are principally with Sea Island and Caravonica 

 cottons, and as these plants are perennials in Hawaii it is necessary 

 to control their growth to prevent their bcM:'oming too large. Experi- 

 ments have shown that the form of the plant and the time of crop 

 production can largely be controlled by pruning, and that the prun- 

 ings can be utilized for propagating. Although this method may not 

 prove a commercial success, it has proved valuable in the propagation 

 of pure strains of cotton where the possibility of crossing could not 

 be eliminated. The tendency to heavy production of cotton was 

 shown in a field of Sea Island, where the plants averaged 700 bolls at 

 six mouths, and some individuals bore as many as 1,200 bolls. This 

 heavy load, especially on the lateral branches, tended to bend the 

 plants to the ground, injuring the lint, and as a consequence experi- 

 ments are in ju-ogress to secure jilants Avith shorter limbs and of a 

 more upright habil of growth. In experiments on the use of fer- 

 tilizers for cotton, the value of phosphates in increasing production 

 has been clearly shown, increases of two or three fold over check plats 

 being obtained. 



