328 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



and in this work nearly 70,000 oranges were handled. A comparison 

 of the work of the picking crews where the labor was paid by the 

 day and by the box shows that equal percentages of injuries were 

 made by both unless the work is done under the supervision of a 

 capable foreman. In some instances the box-paid laborers were 

 found to do as good or better work than those under the day-paid 

 plan where no attempt at supervision was made. 



The results of these lines of investigation corroborate in every 

 respect the earlier work of the bureau, both in California and in 

 Florida, and show definitely the relation between the tj-^pe of han- 

 dling given the fruit and the decay in transit and after arrival in 

 market. The Florida orange when carefully handled has been shown 

 to have good carr5'ing qualities, and a notable improvement in the 

 reduction of the losses from decay has resulted from the bureau 

 work. 



VITICULTURAL INVESTIGATIONS. 



The viticultural researches of the year have been continued in 

 charge of Mr. George C. Husmann, assisted by Messrs. Charles 

 Dearing, Fred L. Husmann, and Richard Schmidt. 



Investigations in Vinifera regions. — Vinfera introductions to 

 the number of 19, received through the Office of Foreign Seed and 

 Plant Introduction, and 138 choice American grape varieties that 

 are rapidly becoming extinct, received from other sources, were 

 planted and are to be perpetuated with others previously introduced 

 at the Plant Introduction Garden, Chico, Cal. Extensive propaga- 

 tion and congeniality and bench-grafting tests of 41 American varie- 

 ties on 29 resistant stocks and 130 Vinifera varieties on 58 resistant 

 stocks were also made and placed in the nursery at Chico. 



The bureau's California experiment vineyards now contain 464 

 Vinifera, 439 American varieties, and 320 Vinifera varieties grafted 

 on different resistant stocks, and very valuable data are being ob- 

 tained. An additional experiment vineyard was located at Brawley, 

 Cal., which is considered the earliest ripening district in the country, 

 and regular checks of 211 Vinifera table-grape varieties have been 

 planted there. 



Middle Atlantic States investigations. — The renovation, prun- 

 ing, and training experiments of old, run-down Concord vines on 

 the farm of the Training School for the Feeble Minded, at Vineland, 

 N. J., are resulting in the restoration of the vines to full bearing 

 and vigor. 



In the experimental vineyard at Vineland, N. J., 64 varieties are 

 represented. Complete supports and trellises have been provided, 

 and vines of each of the 32 principal varieties are trained to the 

 fan, four-aiTn renewal, modified Munson, two-arm high-renewal, two- 

 arm low-renewal, and stake systems to determine which sj^stem is 

 best for each variety. The weight of the wood removed at last year's 

 pruning varied in the order in which the six systems are here men- 

 tioned, being greatest for the first and least for the last named. 



RoTUNDLFOLiA INVESTIGATIONS. — Yield records of Rotundifolia va- 

 rieties trained on upright trellises and on overhead arbors indicate 

 that profitable crops of grapes can be obtained a year earlier with the 

 upright trellis system. A study of 1,152 Rotundifolia seedlings 



