BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 427 



grown in the Sacramento and San Joaquin Valleys and indicate that 

 rice may here ultimately be produced as a paying crop. 



The work of selection and breeding, the studies on the eradication 

 and control of red rice and on rice irrigation and production will 

 be continued, but it will be impossible to increase the scope of these 

 investigations without additional funds. It is proposed to make 

 £ special study of the possibilities of the cultivation of wild rice 

 and of the growing of rice without irrigation in certain sections of 

 the Southern States, for the purpose of obtaining another crop that 

 may be profitably used in rotations. 



Grain sorghums.— Experimental work with grain sorghums, un- 

 der the direction of Mr. Carleton R. Ball, has been extended. Special 

 attention has been given to the proper rate of seeding necessary to 

 insure the highest yields under different climatic conditions. Co- 

 operation to this end with the manufacturers of planting machinery 

 has shown good results, and it is expected that the leading manufac- 

 turers will henceforth be able to supply plates drilled to plant the 

 standard varieties accurately at desired rates. 



Field experiments continue to show the superior value of dwarf 

 and early strains. In more northern latitudes or at higher elevations 

 dwarf ness and earliness are required to establish the crops; in areas 

 having a long season these qualities permit them to escape or evade 

 the frequently recurring droughts of summer. The dwarf kafir 

 produced at the Amarillo station has been distributed in small quan- 

 tities, with favorable results, manifested by a large demand. Sev- 

 eral hundred acres were grown this year by cooperating farmers, 

 and this variety will be widely established as a field crop. 



Early plantings of grain sorghums to escape midge injury gave 

 satisfactory results in the Gulf area. Breeding of improved varie- 

 ties of broom corn has been continued, and these varieties have been 

 tested at a large number of stations. Some especially good results 

 have been obtained in the northern Plains area in experiments on a 

 small scale. In view of the importance of the broom-corn industry, 

 especially in dry-land areas, and of the enormous shortage of the 

 crop which has just occurred in two consecutive seasons, it is ex- 

 tremely desirable that an appropriation be obtained to conduct the 

 necessary experiments in the culture, harvesting, curing, and market- 

 ing of this crop in dilferent parts of the United States. 



It is planned to revive and extend the experiments, that were 

 temporarily discontinued because of lack of fund.s, in the use of 

 grain sorghums for human food. The experiments in breeding early 

 varieties for earliness and cold resistance will be continued. The 

 best dwarf and early strains will be widely distributed in order to 

 increase production in the dry-land areas. 



Cereal-diseask work. — In the cereal-disease investigations, in 

 charcfe of Mr. Edward C. Jolmson. the following: lines of work have 

 been emphasized : (1) The breeding of rust-resistant wheats adapted 

 to the hard spring-wheat belt and a study of the methods and funda- 

 mental laws which must be observed in such work; (2) the physi- 

 ology' of rusts, with particular reference to conditions affecting the 

 germination of the uredosjiore; (li) the improvement of methods of 

 smut prevention and eradication and a special study of the life his- 

 tory of the head-smut of sorghums; (4) the prevention of the 



