BUKEAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 79 



binding- grasses, and a number of novelties, such as Mexican clover, 

 the madder plant, and so on. These are grown principally for the 

 instruction of visitors. 



Mr. David Grifliths is engaged in the study of problems of range 

 management on our western ranges. He is now exploring the ranges 

 of Oregon and Washington and will proceed thence to the Territorj'^ 

 of Arizona, where we have arranged for some extensive and carefullj^ 

 conducted experiments on this j)roblem. We are preparing to fence 

 100 square miles of range land that is badly denuded, in order to pro- 

 tect it from stock and to control the ranging of stock upon it when 

 we are ready to admit them. This work is done in cooperation with 

 the Arizona experiment station. We are also cooperating with the 

 experiment stations in Kansas, South Dakota, and Washington on 

 work of a similar character. 



In our cooperative work with the experiment stations we are work- 

 ing on soil and sand-binding ijlants with the States of California, 

 Michigan, and Oregon; cover crops for orchards in Delaware; grasses 

 and forage plants for arid lands in Kansas, South Dakota, and Wyo- 

 ming ; the rotation of crops, with Kentucky and Tennessee ; testing mis- 

 cellaneous forage plants, Kentucky and Tennessee; soiling and silage 

 crops, Kentucky, Maryland, and Tennessee; the establishment and 

 maintenance of meadows and pastures, Kentucky, Missouri, Xebraska, 

 North Carolina, and Tennessee; the value of farm crops as feed for 

 beef cattle, with Missouri; testing newly introduced forage plants, 

 Nebraska and North Carolina; testing annual hay crops, Nebraska 

 and Tennessee; experiments with fertilizers, Tennessee ; experiments 

 on haymaking, Tennessee; grasses and forage plants with partial irri- 

 gation in the arid regions, Utah; grasses for wet and overflowed lands, 

 Vermont; grasses and forage plants for alkali soils, Wyoming. 



We are conducting experiments in cooperation ^vith farmers in 

 Texas on the best methods of exterminating Johnson grass. This 

 work is under the immediate charge of the Agrostologist. We are 

 investigating the cropping systems in vogue in various parts of the 

 country and studying the relation between the cultivation of forage 

 plants and their utilization upon the farm as stock feed and the main- 

 tenance of soil fertility. We are attempting to produce a new legume 

 that shallgrow erect like the sov bean, hold its leaves well in hav- 

 making, produce an abundance of seed valuable for feed and easily 

 harvested, and have a stalk which can be made into palatable hay. 

 We hope to do this by crossing available varieties of either cowpeas 

 or soy beans. We are planning to do both. 



Mr. P. L. Ricker has taken general charge of the herbarium and 

 attends to the determination of miscellaneous grasses as they are 

 sent in. 



The clerical force of the office, in addition to attending to the cor- 

 respondence of the ofl&ce, will collect and index information on grasses 

 and forage plants, and will map the distribution of a number of the 

 more important ones. 



POMOLOGICAL INVESTIGATIONS. 



To accommodate the rapidly increasing work of this ofiSce the 

 various lines of activity in pomological investigation were divided at 

 the beginning of the fiscal year into two somewhat distinct groups 

 under the general dii-ection of the Pomologist, Col, G. B. Brackett. 

 The first of these groups includes the very hea^'y routine work of 



