REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 123 



An important part of the work at the Yuma field station, at Bard, 

 Cal., is the experiments with Egyptian cotton conducted in cooper- 

 ation with other offices of the bureau. It has been found that the 

 methods of planting, cultivation, and irrigation as practiced in 

 Egypt are not applicable to the southwestern United States. Upon 

 the recommendation of bureau officials, about TOO acres of land were 

 planted to the crop this year in cooperation with farmers on the 

 Salt Eiver, Yuma, and Imperial Valley irrigation projects, and two 

 specialists have been detailed to supervise the field work of the 

 cooperating farmers. The results so far are extremely encouraging. 



The work on the Williston project in North Dakota consisted 

 chiefly in giving expert assistance in the construction and use of 

 farm irrigation systems to the new farmers who came to live on 

 the irrigated lands. At the close of the present season it was found 

 that the work had progressed far enough to enable the farmers to 

 dispense with the services of the irrigation expert who had been 

 maintained at Williston, and his employment was therefore termi- 

 nated. 



At the Fallon (Nev.) field station one of the chief problems has 

 been the devising of methods for the reclamation of the highly 

 impervious alkaline soils which comprise a large part of the Truckee- 

 Carson project. Various methods have been attempted without 

 success, but recent experiments strongly indicate the practicability 

 of using gypsum or lime on the soil to increase its permeability and 

 installing farm drainage systems to carry away the alkaline salts 

 leached out of the soil by irrigation. One more year's results will 

 be required before this method can be recommended with certainty. 



Probably the most serious problem which has been encountered 

 on the project is the eradication of the nematode gallworm affecting 

 potatoes and some other crop plants. In 1910 and 1911 the disease 

 was so extensive as seriously to threaten the potato-growing indus- 

 try in Nevada. Investigation has shown that certain crops are 

 seldom or never affected by the gallworm, and that the growth of 

 these crops for a series of years affords about the only effective 

 method of eradicating the parasite from infested areas. A publica- 

 tion giving suggestions for the avoidance and eradication of the pest 

 was issued in February, 1912, and distributed among the farmers 

 of Nevada. 



A considerable quantity of educational work has been done on the 

 project, not only with field and garden crops, but with ornamental 

 plants for use in home making as well. Several thousand shade 

 trees have been purchased and set out by the farmers under the 

 direction of the farm superintendent, and excellent growth has been 

 made, particularly by black locust and Carolina poplar. 



