BUEEAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 315 



counties which have never been able to enjoy its benefits owing to 

 the lack of funds necessary for its extension. There are still large 

 sections in some of the States where not as much work is being done 

 as should be done. It is planned to intensify the work and especially 

 to endeavor to work immediately in advance of the boll weevil. De- 

 pending upon the rapidity of the forward march of the weevil, the 

 work will be extended in Georgia and Florida. Special attention 

 will be devoted to cotton production in Louisiana, now rapidly recov- 

 ering from the disastrous effects of the weevil. Much work still re- 

 mains to be done as the weevil advances in Arkansas and Mississippi, 

 and during the next two years the department expects to do a great 

 deal to prevent panic and maintain normal cotton production in 

 Alabama. At the same time the cotton areas of Florida and Georgia 

 will be prepared for the weevil by teaching better farm methods, the 

 careful selection of seed, and the production of home supplies. 



ARLINGTON EXPERIMENTAL FARM AND HORTICULTURAL 



INVESTIGATIONS. 



The general maintenance and development of the Arlington Ex- 

 perimental Farm as well as the various investigations with potatoes, 

 peanuts, and general vegetable crops have been continued the past 

 year by Prof. L. C. Corbett. There has been no radical change in 

 the policy of this work, but marked progress has been made in all 

 the important projects. 



THE ARLINGTON EXPERIMENTAL FARM. 



The Arlington farm has now been in operation 10 years. The 

 extensive utilization of its area and facilities by the various offices 

 for field laboratory investigations attests the wisdom of establishing 

 such a permanent field laboratory near Washington. The success of 

 such work depends quite as much upon the management as upon the 

 equipment. Mr. E. C. Butterfield, the superintendent, has so ad- 

 justed the management to a great diversity of requirements that the 

 cooperative work of the place has steadily increased; in fact, the de- 

 mand has been so great that it has come to be a problem to arrange 

 the allotment of areas so as not to handicap investigations. 



Work of various bureaus on the far^i. — The investigations con- 

 ducted at the farm by the Forest Service and the Bureaus of Ento- 

 mology, Chemistry, and Soils have been largel}'' a continuation of work 

 previously outlined. That of the Bureaus of Entomology and Soils 

 covers about the same area as heretofore, while the Forest Service has 

 increased its area slightly by the additional planting of varieties and 

 species of willows, and the Bureau of Chemistry has conducted con- 

 siderable cooperative work with the Bureau of Plant Industry in the 

 study of the respiration of fruits during the ripening process and the 

 manufacture of starch from refuse potatoes. The Office of Drainage 

 Investigations has made a topographic survey of the farm, which will 

 be of considerable service in extending the tile-drainage system; also 

 in the proposed reclamation of the farm marsh land. 



The Bureau of Plant Industry has somewhat increased during the 

 past year the area used for investigations previously outlined, and 

 they now occupy about 110 acres, making a total of about 130 acres 

 devoted to experimental work; in fact, practically all of the land 



