134 agricultural appropriation bill, 1924. 



Friday, November 17, 1922. 



BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 



STATEMENTS OF DR. WM. A. TAYLOR, CHIEF OF BUREAU, 

 AND DR. KARL F. KELLERMAN, ASSOCIATE CHIEF, BUREAU 

 OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 



Mr. Anderson. We will take at this time salaries. Bureau of Plant 

 Industry, on page 72 of the estimates, beginning with the statutory 

 roll. 



Doctor Taylor. I have a brief summary statement, summarizing 

 the general character of the work of the bureau, which it will not be 

 necessary to read, probably, but which might in the record of the 

 hearing be helpful, m that it covers any particular points which are 

 not covered in the explanatory notes relating to the changes in the 

 appropriation. 



Mr. Anderson. Without objection, it will go into the record 

 without reading. 



(The statement referred to and submitted by Doctor Taylor is here 

 printed in full, as follows:) 



General Statement of Work. 



The work of the Bureau of Plant Industry is almost entirely of an investigational 

 character, devoted to acquiring knowledge concerning fundamental principles gov- 

 erning crop production and crop utilization. The bureau activities include the 

 improvement of crop plants by selection and breeding: the introduction of important 

 varieties of fruits, grains, forage crops, and other plants from foreign countries: the 

 investigation of destructive plant diseases ami the development of methods for their 

 control: and the carrying on, in cooperation ^vith State.-^ directly concerned, of special 

 campaigns for the control or eradication of epidemics of unusually serious plant dis- 

 eases, such as black stem rust of wheat, citrus canker, white-pine blister rust, etc. 



The bureau carries on experimental work in all sections of the United States, fre- 

 cjuently upon land furnished l)y State experiment stations or controlled under lease, 

 in addition to the permanent field stations, the most extensive of which is the experi- 

 ment farm on the Arlington estate in Virginia. In cooperation with the Reclamation 

 Service of the Department of the Interior, agricultural experimentation is conducted 

 on the irrigated lands of the Government reclamation projects. A seed and plant 

 exchange service is conducted between experts of foreign countries and .\merican 

 experts. The bureau supervises the i)urchase and distribution of vegetable, flower, 

 cotton, tobacco, lawn-grass, and <lrought-resi8tant seeds, and of bulbs. 



The complete activities of the l)ureau are too complex for detaileil statement. A 

 brief selection is here presented to show the general scope of the Inireau's work; this 

 statement is supplemental to the explanations for increases or other changes that are 

 presented in the estimates. 



CONTROL OI' THE WHITE PINE BLISTER RUST. 



White pine blister rust is a destructive ])lant disease that reached America about 

 ]900. It was inlrodiiccd from Kiiro])e on infected white pine nursery stock, which 

 was ])laiUe(l in many places in the eastern I'nited States. In l!ll:> it was found attack- 

 ing nativt; wliitc pines, but its wiilc distril)Uti()n \vas not .^ii.-^pi'cted until the late fall of 

 1915, wh(Mi the rust was di.scovered on currant and gooseberry bushes and wiiite pines 

 over a large area in Mius,sachusetts and New Manipsliire. Since then practical mea.><urea 

 have been (h^veioped for the control of this disea.se untler eiustcrn conditidiis. which 

 consist of the eradication of curranl and goosclxMry bushes within !M»0 feet of the |)int>s. 

 'I'lic outstanding feature of the white ])ine l)lister rust situation during the na.-^t \'ear was 

 the discovery of tliis destructive disea'^e in tlie I'uget Sound region of British t\>luinl>ia 

 and Washington. The d«'|)artment, in cooperation with State and Canadian authori- 

 ties, has taken prompt action to delerniine llie extent of tlie infected area aiiti it po-- 



