100 JAMESTOWN CONGRESS OF HORTICULTURE 



pounds of delicious fruit, indicating that our work on this unique 

 desert culture will pass from the stage of a pure experiment to that 

 of a new industry. We are now conducting extensive life history 

 investigations of the date palm, in order to ascertain its exact soil, 

 climatic and cultural requirements. Similar work is also being applied 

 to the fig, pistache and other crops with promise of valuable results. 

 One of the introductions to which particular attention has been 

 given is the Japanese salad plant Udo, which grows well in many sec- 

 tions of this country and is handled and served very much like celery. 

 To secure the extensive use of the plant, however, will probably take 

 considerable time, as the taste for it is a cultivated one, like that for 

 the olive, mango, etc. It is a promising introduction, however, and is 

 already being widely disseminated and distributed. 



SECURING, PROPAGATING AND DISSEMINATING NEW AND RARE SEEDS AND 

 PLANTS ORIGINATED IN THIS COUNTRY, WHICH CAN NOT BE DISSEMI- 

 NATED THROUGH THE REGULAR CHANNELS OF TRADE. 



This work is largely incidental to other lines of horticultural work, 

 and is well illustrated by our annual distribution of the new citrus 

 fruit varieties developed by the Department, which I shall presently 

 describe. It is our policy wherever a new and promising variety is 

 secured in any of the various lines of work, to propagate the variety 

 extensively for distribution to growers for co-operative tests. In this 

 way we are able to ascertain fully the worth of any new variety, as 

 well as to exploit it where it is likely to prove the most valuable. 



PLANT BREEDING INVESTIGATIONS. 



Through the Bureau of Plant Industry the Department of Agricul- 

 ture is conducting much work in the improvement of plants by breed- 

 ing and selection. A number of horticultural crops are receiving atten- 

 tion in this way, including citrus fruits, pineapples, sweet corn, lettuce, 

 potatoes, etc. The work on citrus fruits and pineapples, which has 

 been very successful, has been conducted by Dr. Herbert J. Webber, 

 formerly in charge of our plant breeding investigations and now in 

 Cornell University. Many valuable new sorts of citrus fruits have 

 been produced by hybridization. The new hardy oranges, or citranges, 

 are being distributed to numerous growers for trial. These form an 

 entirely new class of citrus fruits, and are believed to be of great 

 value for cultivation as home fruits in the region from 300 to 400 miles 

 north of the present orange belt. In addition to these, other new fruits 

 have been developed, including the tangelo, a cross between the pomelo 

 or grape-fruit and tangerine orange, as well as new limes, tangerine 

 oranges, etc. 



The pineapple breeding work has been conducted through a num- 

 ber of years, and has resulted in the development of new sorts pos- 

 sessing many improved characters that are believed to fit them for 

 general cultivation and to recommend them above other varieties now 

 cultivated. Among them are a number of smooth or spineless-leaved 



