148 ANNUAL llEPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



varieties, this South American collection is without value for com- 

 mercial purposes. The work with this group of potatoes will, there- 

 fore, be very much curtailed in the future. 



The seed-improvement work is being carried on in cooperation 

 with the agricultural experiment stations in practically all of the 

 important potato-producing States. The best seed stock of the lead- 

 ing varieties in clifferent regions is being grown in the different 

 States. During the progress of the season the various plats are in- 

 spected several times for the purpose of elminating diseased plants 

 and those which are not true to name or true to type, and at the 

 harvest period carefully studied selections are made for the purpose 

 of obtaining the best strains of the different varieties. These po- 

 tatoes in turn will be used for seed purposes with a view of de- 

 veloping stocks that are true to name, true to type, free from disease 

 communicable through the seed and at the same time possess high- 

 yielding proclivities. 



VEGETABLE UTILIZATION WORK. 



The investigations of the utilization of vegetables have been con- 

 ducted primarily from the standpoint of the producer, with a view 

 to securing information which will enable the farmer or the grower 

 successfully and profitably to utilize his surplus crops or the crops 

 which he may grow especially for drying or canning. 



The activities have been directed toward the determination of 

 varieties best adapted to the different purposes and to methods of 

 procedure which will give a technique that the farmer can apply with 

 reasonable assurance of the results. 



In the canning of vegetables the fact has been developed that there 

 is a very wide variation in the behavior of different varieties; for 

 instance, certain varieties of beets appear to be much better adapted 

 for canning than others. Methods of canning carried on with a 

 view of determining processes which will give the greatest possible 

 degree of success under the widest range of conditions are being in- 

 vestigated, it being recognized that most of the methods now used 

 not infrequently give faulty results under many different conditions. 



One of the most important activities has been directed toward the 

 working out of satisfactory methods of canning sweet potatoes. The 

 methods now used, both on the farm and by commercial canneries, 

 result in a product which has a more or less burnt and otherwise un- 

 pleasant flavor. This burnt taste appears to be the result of cara- 

 melization. A method has been worked out whereby this is not only 

 avoided but which results in a product that is essentially like the 

 sweet potato when freshly prepared for table use. In the same con- 

 nection canning tests of 34 different varieties of sweet potatoes have 

 been made. These tests have shown a wide variation in the value of 

 different varieties for these purposes. Other features of canning 

 technique are being developed alon^ the lines of the fundamental 

 principles involved, which it is believed will have a far-reaching 

 effect on farm canning. 



BULB-CULTURE INVESTIGATIONS. 



During the year one half of our bulb stocks* have been removed to 

 the new bulb farm at Bellingham. Owing to a shortage of labor 

 the other half was left undug on rented ground. The total excess 



