AOBIOULTURAL APPHOPUIATIOX HIM,, l\r2i. 



151 



Doctor 'IVv^i.oK. If it Ixri.iiifs clcnr llmt it |>a\>.. >oiih- our liu« to 

 go forward ami <lct that thin;; at tht* iiicrcasi'^l oxix-usr tisiially of 

 money and practically always of labor, that is involved. Th*- (juiw- 

 tion of th«' pcrmatUMuc of the a<lo[)tion of such a practice often \h 

 iiidiieiiccd hy whether very destructive seasims oc«Mir sonjewhat 

 early in the operation of the plan or not; for example, in the <'aMO of 

 the control of brown rot of tlie peach in the CJeoi^jfia peac/li district, 

 a plan of control was worked out and demonstrate<l and adopted 

 and siicceede<l, and was practiced for several years. A dry season 

 came alon;; when unsprayed [)each trees yielded jiist as jjood a 

 product as sprayed ones, an«l there were two or three years in which 

 the weather was relatively unfavoiMble for the disease. Then there 

 came, two years a^^o, a continuously showery season in tliat lernlory, 

 when brown rot conditions were favorable, and tlie crop went bad to 

 an extent that caused losses that were almost total in the case of 

 large enterprises and the groweiN were in a mood for adoptioti of 

 better practices. The work that was put on there as a residt of their 

 appeals for a redenionstration. with some further improvements 

 wliich had become possible through knowledge secured later, they 

 adopted and this y(>ar adhered to a spray schedule in a very satis- 

 factory way and almost universally. Much depends on whether 

 early in a campaign a year occurs when the man who does not adopt 

 the methods does just as well as the one who does, because it is 

 dillicult to hold him to a sche(hde of increased expc'nditure and action 

 if he can not see that it jiays. 



FOR INVESTIGATING THE PHYSIOLOGY OF CROP PLANTS. 



Mr. Anderson. Doctor Tavlor, you can commence witli your next 

 item. 



Doctor Taylor. The next item is on page 86, ''For investigating 

 the physiology of crop plants and for testing and breeding varieties 

 tliereof," in which tlie estimate provides an increase of SI 0.000 for 

 enlarging the date-production investigations in the Southwest. 



DATE-PRODUCTION INVE8TIOATION9. 



This is applicable chiefly to California, Arizona, and as a minor 

 feature to tlie Rio (irande Valley of Texas. The industry is coming 

 along in fairly good shape. The Deglet Noor variety is succeeding 

 well in the Coachella Valley of California. In the great Imperial 

 \'alley, in parts of which they have more humid weather tlian the 

 Coachella \ alley, the Deglet I^oor has not proved well adajited. 



There is now a goodly supply of offshoots of an Egyptian date 

 variety, the .^aidy, which is earlier in maturing and more promising 

 than Deglet Noor for the Imj)erial \'alley. 



We have no experimental collection there and the people are very 

 desirous of definite date work there. Telegrams came in this week 

 tendering, without cost to the department, a tract of laiul for that 



f>urpose in the Imperial \'alley, in the hope that this work can go 

 orward. 



Mr. Anderson. Well, are vou going out there and start a lot of 

 experiments on land which is furnished free, and thereby develop a 

 tract for private parties, or are you going to have to buy it '. 



