160 ANNUAL REPORTS OF DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE. 



the standpoint of facilities for handling special crops and busi- 

 ness organization for marketing the products. The Bureau of Plant 

 Industry has continued its efforts to assist both in the permanent de- 

 ^'elopment of this industry along practical lines and in saving waste 

 and unproductive effort in directions likely to result in failure. 



Continued interest is manifested in the development of drug 

 gardens at schools of pharmacy throughout the country, and in a 

 number of instances material assistance has been rendered in connec- 

 tion with the establishment of new gardens by furnishing plans, 

 supplying seeds, roots, and plants for propagation, and giving de- 

 sired information with respect to suitable selections for the available 

 situation and general methods of culture and handling. This feature 

 of the development of drug-plant culture affords improved facilities 

 for instruction in the characteristics and properties of medicinal 

 plants, and further is calculated to conserve propagating stock of 

 important medicinal plants in this country and disseminate practical 

 knowledge concerning drug-plant growing and handling. 



THE CAMPHOR INDUSTRY. 



The high price of camphor and the difficulty of obtaining adequate 

 supplies from the native sources of production have greatly stimu- 

 lated interest in the development of the camphor industry in Florida. 

 Through an informal cooperation with the large camphor growers 

 systematic observations have been continued on improved methods of 

 growing and handling the crop in the field. An intensive study of the 

 process of distillation revealed sources of loss, and refinements in the 

 methods of recovery were devised by which the percentage of cam- 

 phor recovered from the distilled material is very substantially in- 

 creased. Extended experimentation on methods of propagating and 

 transplanting camphor seedlings has resulted in a substantial reduc- 

 tion in the cost of these operations on a large acreage basis. 



UTILIZATION OF AGRICULTURAL WASTE PRODUCTS. 



Studies of waste materials of the canning and fruit-packing in- 

 dustries have been continued with reference to the economic possi- 

 bilities in the recovery of valuable commercial products from these 

 sources. Investigations of the utilization of tomato-cannery waste 

 on a commercial scale have been brought to satisfactory completion. 

 Similar studies during the year have included the investigation of 

 the possibilities in the utilization of waste grape pomace, pumpkin 

 seed, and corn waste from canneries, and the sirup content of the 

 stalks remaining after the harvest of sweet corn. 



CROP UTILIZATION IN IRRIGATED REGIONS. 



In newly developed irrigated regions there is a continuing and 

 urgent demand for information as to the best varieties of field crops 

 for each locality and the best methods of culture, as well as of 

 methods of crop utilization. 



The economic importance of utilizing bulky forage crops at the 

 point of production through the use of live stock has been fully 

 recognized, and arrangements have been made for demonstrating 

 at the irrigated field stations the most efficient methods of using such 

 crops. Extensive demonstrations have been carried on in pasturing 



