BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 291 



sent to all of the State experiment stations in the South and West 

 where winter barley would be likely to succeed and excellent results 

 have been reported from many localities. Owing to its high stooling 

 qualities this variety gives promise of being very productive. 



From about 60 different forms of pedigreed barley sown at each 

 of five points in the North and West some interesting facts were 

 learned, but particularly at the cooperative experiment farm at 

 Moccasin, Mont. In one group every selection was promising, the 

 six strains all possessing characters in common. 



About 400 pedigreed strains and several hundred hybrids are under 

 experiment at St. Paul, IMinn., in cooperation with the State station. 

 The Swan Neck variety is gradually becoming acclimated and did 

 especially well the past year in Minnesota. From a hybrid of the 

 South African crossed with the Manchuria variety results have been 

 obtained showing a striking reversion to ancestral characters. 



Grain-sorghum investigations. — The work with the dry-land 

 grain-sorghum crops has been continued under the immediate charge 

 of Mr. Carleton R. Ball. The season of 1910 was a severe one in 

 much of the grain-sorghum belt. Such a condition following the 

 drought of 1909 enabled the new dwarf and early strains to show 

 their superiority over the taller and later sorts. In spite of the in- 

 tense drought the yields were larger than in 1909, due to thinner 

 stands, whtch emphasizes the need of insuring against crop loss from 

 drought by planting thinly each year a part of the area grown in 

 these crops. Improved strains distributed by this bureau produced 

 the only crops grown by many new settlers in the Southwest. 



Rice investigations. — The rice investigations under the direction 

 of Mr. C. E. Chambliss have continued along lines already projected. 

 In the Louisiana investigations much progress has been made in 

 solving the problem of controlling red rice largely through proper 

 crop rotations and thorough cultivation. During the year experi- 

 ments with rice have been permanently established at Beaumont, 

 Tex., where the investigations will be similar to those in Louisiana. 

 In California experiments are being conducted at nine different 

 points. Some unusually good results have been obtained. The re- 

 sults of investigations in Florida indicate that success may be ob- 

 tained in rice cultivation without irrigation on the prairies now being 

 settled. 



Cereal diseases. — In the cereal disease work in charge of Mr. 

 Edward C. Johnson studies of the life history of rust have been con- 

 tinued. Several resistant hybrids adapted to Minnesota conditions 

 have been established and the seed is being increased. Experiments 

 for the purpose of improving methods in this type of breeding are 



in progress. 



It has been demonstrated that the head smut of sorghum is not 

 caused by external inoculation of the seed, as in stinking smut of 

 wheat, or by local infection, as in corn smut, but is similar to that 

 of the loose smuts of barley and wheat; that is, by infection at an 

 early stage in the plant's life. 



Rice diseases are being studied, particularly " straight head," which 

 caused losses of 50 to 75 per cent of the crop on many plantations in 

 Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas in 1910. 



