72 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



that commercial rice production may be possible on large areas in 

 the Sacramento Valley and on smaller areas in the San Joaquin 

 Valley. Preliminary irrigation experiments with rice show the prob- 

 ability of obtaining more profitable yields of this crop with much 

 less irrigation water than is commonly used. Promising results have 

 also been obtained in the investigation of growing rice without irri- 

 gation on the prairies of Florida. Experiments with Arlington 

 Awnless winter barley have progressed with considerable success. 

 Seed of this hybrid has been sent to all the experiment stations in 

 the South and West where winter barley would likely be adapted, 

 and in many cases excellent success has been reported. Owing to its 

 high stooling qualities this variety gives promise of becoming very 

 productive. 



DRY-LAND AGRICULTURE INVESTIGATIONS. 



Another year of severe drought throughout a considerable portion 

 of the Great Plains region has shown the value of the investigations 

 in crop rotations and cultivation methods in this area. These investi- 

 gations have shown that, while much may be accomplished in the way 

 of moisture conservation by proper methods of cultivation, none of 

 the much-advertised methods and " systems " which have been so 

 vigorously exploited through the public press can insure crops 

 against droughts as severe as those experienced at some of the stations 

 during the last two seasons. At those stations where the drought was 

 less severe some remarkable differences in yields were obtained 

 where proper methods of cultivation and crop sequence were followed. 

 The results of the past season's investigations strongly confirm the 

 tentative conclusions published in Bulletin No. 187 of the Bureau of 

 Plant Industry. They also disclose several new problems which de- 

 mand solution and which will be attacked during the coming season. 



The high appreciation of this line of work by those interested in 

 the agricultural development of the Great Plains was evidenced by 

 the substantial increase in the appropriations made by the last Con- 

 gress for its development and extension. The Comptroller of the 

 Treasury has ruled, however, that, owing to a slight defect in the last 

 appropriation act, the funds appropriated " for the investigation and 

 improvement of methods of crop production under semiarid or dry- 

 land conditions " can not be used for the erection of buildings neces- 

 sary for carrying on these investigations at the field stations. It is 

 hoped that the next Congress will remedy this defect early in its 

 session, in order that the current appropriations may be used for this 

 purpose. If this is done, active operations will be begun at several 

 new stations early in the coming spring. These stations are located 

 in Fall Kiver County, S. Dak. ; near Tucumcari, N. Mex. ; and in the 

 southern portion of the Panhandle of Texas. It is absolutely essen- 

 tial to the development of this important line of investigations that 



