940 EXPERIMENT STi^.TION RECORD. 



syfitematizing of the introduction and distribution of speeds and plant?, have made 

 the need of better faciHties fur caring for, propagating, and testing introduced plants 

 a.id seeds imperative. After a thorough examination of different parts of the State 

 of California by P. II. Dorsett, AVilliam Taylor, and W. W. Tracy, of this Depart- 

 ment, assisted by A. ^^ Stubenrauch of the California Station, Chico was finally 

 selected as the site of the garden; and a tract provided by the county for that pur- 

 pose has been turned over to the Department. Chico is located in Butte County in 

 the northern part of the State, nearly 100 miles north of Sacramento. The State 

 has maintained a forestry station there for a number of years. While the (;limate is 

 too severe for the safe propagation of citrus fruits less hardy than the lemon, the 

 general conditions of climate and soil are such as to promote an extraordinarily 

 liealthy growth of all other plant life. It is thought that the Chico climate will be 

 representative of a much larger range of availal)le territory than the forestless 

 regions farther south. The question of water was also an important item in selecting 

 a location; at Chico the necessity for irrigation will be confined to annual crops and 

 newly i)lanted trees, and established trees will not require irrigation. 



It is the intention of the Bureau of Plant Industry to gather at this garden a large 

 and representative collection of economic plants of all kinds, more jiarticularly of 

 fruits, and to propagate such new varieties as are found worthy of further introduc- 

 tion, at least to the extent necessary to make a preliminary distrilmtion. As the col- 

 lection increases the garden will afford valuable facilities for plant breeding and for 

 studies in botany and horticulture, such as can only be carried on where a wide 

 range of plants are available. The garden will also be used very largely for planting 

 small samples of seeds, in order to increase the stock of seed sufficiently for a pre- 

 liminary distribution. In the past, when only small quantities of seed have been 

 available, these have frequently been lost in the first test, so that even if the test 

 proved favorable a further trial could not be made. In future it is jjlanned to grow 

 an increased supply of all the small lots of seeds which are introduced before any 

 distribution is made, so that a small quantity of stock seed may be kept on hand to 

 fall back ujion, in case the variety proves desirable and it is not practicaVjle to secure 

 the seed elsewhere. Work at the new garden has already been commenced, with 

 P. H. Dorsett in charge as superintendent. 



In addition to the above garden, the Bureau has arranged for the following testing 

 stations in different parts of the country. A palm garden has been located on a tract 

 of 15 acres of land at Mecca, in the Colorado Desert, where the different varieties of 

 date palms will be tested, and also other plants adapted to those regions under irri- 

 gation, the water being furnished by an artesian well. The city of San Antonio, 

 Tex., has turned over to the Bureau 125 acres of land near that city, and the local 

 water company has agreed to furnish abundant water for irrigation free of charge. 

 This will give opportunity for testing plants in the semiarid belt, and also for work 

 in plant breeding and selection. At North Galveston, Tex., the Department has 

 acquired a tract of 60 acres of land to be used piimarily as a rice farm. This farm 

 lies in the prairie belt of Texas, where abundant irrigation water is easily available, 

 and where rice can be grown and harvested by machinery. All the varieties of 

 introduced rice are being tested at this place, as well as other crops adapted to the 

 conditions. The pine woods farm, including 160 acres of land at De Quincy, La., is 

 representative of the pine woods region in which the soil is thin and underlaid with 

 hard pan, making it difficult to cultivate the ordinary crops. At this farm the plants 

 and cultural methods suited to the region, which extends more or less throughout 

 the Gulf States, are to be worked out. Four cereal testing stations are being main- 

 tained — one each in Texas, Nebraska, North Dakota, and South Dakota. These latter 

 are more or less temporary in nature and will be abandoned as soon as the work 

 there is completed. The Bureau continues to maintain a subtropical garden at 

 Miami, Fla. 



