STATES RELATIONS SERVICE. 347 



iarize the public with some of the more practical results of previous 

 investigations. Hawaii is a large importer of foodstuffs, the value 

 of these imports amounting in 1917 to more than $10,000,000, and 

 AVith the disarrangement of shipping as well as the demand on main- 

 land supplies incident to the war, the food situation during 1917-18 

 became acute. The station, through its technical and extension staffs, 

 has freeh^ cooperated with individuals, military posts, and organiza- 

 tions throughout the islands. Vacant land was turned over to the 

 station laborers, who were encouraged to grow war gardens not only 

 to supply their own needs but to serve as demonstrations of methods 

 of cultivation, spraying, etc. At the principal military posts 

 gardens planted under the supervision of the station gave excellent 

 results. Late in the year a Territorial fair was held in Honolulu, 

 in which the station took a prominent part. The fair furnished an 

 opportunity of showing the results of agricultural propaganda work 

 conducted for several years, and exhibits were supplied by about a 

 dozen nationalities. An interesting feature was the daily exhibition 

 of foods of people of various nationalities, especially the Japanese, 

 Chinese, and Hawaiians, who demonstrated such of their native foods 

 as they considered best adapted for use as substitutes for wheat and 

 other imported articles of diet. Mrs. J. M. Westgate, cooperating 

 with the station, worked out a method of substituting about 30 per 

 cent banana pulp for wheat flour in bread making. This practice, 

 taken up by the bakeries of Honolulu, has resulted not only in a 

 saving of flour but in the finding of a use for the surplus of bananas 

 following the removal of steamships from mainland transportation 

 loutes. 



The horticultural work conducted during the year with fruits and 

 vegetables was concerned especially with the increased utilization 

 of the banana, papa^^a, and tomato as food crops. A comprehensive 

 test of beans was made to determine the best varieties for commercial 

 canning, the work to be done by the pineapple canneries during the 

 season of lessened activity. The chemists have paid attention to 

 the drying of Hawaiian fruits and vegetables in order to find a 

 method of utilizing supplies from temporary overproduction, and 

 some very practical methods have been worked out that are adapted 

 to local conditions. A compilation of all available analyses of 

 Hawaiian feeding stuffs was published to supply information rela- 

 tive to the value of locally produced materials. As a result of the 

 successful control of pineapple yellows by spraying with iron sul- 

 phate solutions at least 7,500 acres has been added to the area de- 

 voted to pineapples. The plant pathologist has given much time and 

 effort to demonstrating the possibility of controlling certain diseases. 

 The largely increased potato production of the islands is due to a 

 considerable degree t^ proper spraying. A destructive banana dis- 

 ease and a rot of taro are being studied in an attempt to work out 

 practical methods of control. The agronomy division has directed 

 its efforts along the line of forage production for animals and food 

 production for man. A variety of corn from Guam that is a good 

 yielder and is also resistant to leaf hoppers is being exploited by the 

 station. The edible canna, the tubers of which may be substituted 

 for potatoes in the diet, is being propagated and distributed as 

 rapidly as possible. The forage-crop work conducted for the Army 



