BUREAU OF PLANT INDUSTRY. 73 



visitors. Much of the success of this garden js due to the intelligent 

 efforts on the part of Mr. Thomas Hanley, an expert in the office, who 

 has had immediate care of it. 



WINTER PASTURAGE. 



In Februarjr of the present year Mr. Ball, assistant agrostologist, 

 visited the States of Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana for the 

 purpose of investigating the problem of winter pasturage. There is 

 almost universal demand for such crops throughout this region, and 

 the experiment stations of these States are carrying on rather exten- 

 sive tests of the most promising plants, and some very successful 

 results have been obtained. For the most part the planters had not 

 acted upon the practical suggestions which they had received, largely 

 because of the cost of the required seed and also on account of the 

 extra labor involved. There is scarcely any portion of these States 

 where a winter pasture crop, especially one of a leguminous nature, 

 would not pay through the increased fertility of the soil and the 

 better condition of the sod. The results of these studies will appear 

 in a report now in preparation which will embody results of field work 

 by Mr. Ball in Louisiana and by Mr. Combs in Florida. 



EXTERMINATION OF JOHNSON AND OTHER NOXIOUS GRASSES. 



Under instructions from the Agrostologist an expert was sent to the 

 Gulf States to make an investigation of the problem of exterminating 

 Johnson grass. To this end 15 acres of land were secured in the 

 black waxy lands of east central Texas and a series of experiments 

 inaugurated for the purpose of demonstrating the most economical 

 and effective methods of destroying this pest in cultivated fields. At 

 the same time full investigations of its relative value and the best 

 means of utilizing it as a hay and pasture crop were made. It was 

 found that in those States where it had been longest introduced 

 planters had become thoroughly familiar with it and were able to suc- 

 cessfully control it on their plantations, at the same time making 

 free use of it as a hay crop, for which purpose it made the land fully 

 as remunerative, acre for acre, as f .he best cotton lands of the rich 

 river bottoms. The first problem to be solved in connection with 

 Johnson grass is the prevention of its rapid spread by means of seed 

 carelessly and needlessly scattered over wide areas. This matter lies 

 largely with the farmers themselves, and when once they are fully 

 awake to the necessity of doing this the problem of control and of 

 extermination, where desirable, will be comparatively easy of solu- 

 tion, and at the same time an exceedingly valuable hay crop will 

 have been added to the agricultural resources of the Southern States. 



Crab grass has become a serious pest in the lawns of the Middle 

 and Southern States. It has been particularly aggressive on the 

 newly made lawns of the Department grounds this season, and vigor- 

 ous measures are being adopted to destroy it. 



HERBARIUM WORK AND COLLECTIONS. 



The work on the collections and herbarium has been placed in the 

 immediate charge of Mr. Elmer D. Merrill, and there has been a 

 marked improvement in the condition of collections and a very satis- 

 factory growth. The arrangement of the herbarium has been changed 

 from the sequence of Bentham and Hooker to that of Engler and 



