64 ANKl'AL RKPORTS OK PKPAHTMKXT OF AGRTCTn.TTTRE. 



parentage, and date breeding along definite lines began with last 

 spring's pollinations. Artificial ripening by a very inexpensive 

 method has been carried to a perfection not heretofore attained, and 

 the limited output of the Deglet Noor variety so handled commanded 

 fancy prices. 



The results secured by the department in date culture have stimu- 

 lated considerable activity in date planting and the development of 

 the industry bids fair to advance about as rapidly as the slow propa- 

 gation by offshoots will permit. 



CONDITIONS AFFECTING CROPS IN ARID REGIONS. 



Serious misconceptions have developed regarding the possibilities 

 of crop production in semiarid regions, owing to the lack of definite 

 information regarding the prevailing conditions in such regions. 

 The large yield reported from time to time in the daily press is that 

 of the exceptional crop grown as the result of an unusually heavy 

 rainfall or under such peculiar local conditions that it receives more 

 than the normal water supply of the region. For this reason the 

 department is making measurements at each of its semiarid experi- 

 mental farms to determine as nearly as possible the exact conditions 

 of temperature, rainfall, and evaporation under which each crop is 

 produced. In addition, systematic measurements are made of the 

 moisture content of the soil under different methods of cultivation 

 and crop rotation, to determine what methods are most efficient in 

 getting the rainfall into the soil and making it available for the 

 growing crop. In this way we are able to determine the conditions 

 under which each crop is produced and the effect of those conditions 

 upon the yield. These measurements will be continued until suffi- 

 cient information is obtained regarding conditions in each section 

 where dry farming is being attempted. A preliminary report cov- 

 ering the results of the first four years' observations is now in 

 preparation. 



TOBACCO INVESTIGATIONS. 



Experiments and demonstrations in improved methods of tobacco 

 production have been carried out at local field stations in most of the 

 leading tobacco-growing sections, and laboratory studies on the rela- 

 tion of the composition to the quality of the leaf have been continued. 



The method which has been devised for applying artificial heat in 

 curing cigar tobaccos has been used successfully during the past sea- 

 son by several growers in the Connecticut Valley. This system not 

 only does away with all injury from pole sweat, but insures better 

 and most uniform curing. Experiments with an improved system of 

 ventilation for barns in the flue-curing districts have also given 

 promising results. 



