102 JAMESTOWN CONGRESS OF HORTICULTURE 



methods of cultivating various truck and garden crops. Considerable 

 attention is being given in this way to potatoes. The results obtained 

 in growing potatoes in rotation have been carefully noted, as have been 

 the fertilizer requirements and other features. Some attention is also 

 being given to the marketing of farm products, and on the diversifica- 

 tion farms conducted by the Office of Farm Management a detailed 

 study of methods of truck farming has been made. In all these lines 

 of work useful information is being obtained. 



EXPERIMENTAL STUDIES. DEMONSTRATIONS AND TESTS AT THE ARLINCTOX 

 EXPERIMENTAL FARM. 



Several years ago Congress authorized the establishment on the 

 Arlington estate in Virginia, which is within easy access from Washing- 

 ton, of a general experimental farm for the work of the Department of 

 Agriculture. This farm has proved of great value to the work of the 

 Department. The horticultural work now under way at the farm 

 includes experiments in vegetable and fruit growing, the growing of 

 vegetables and flowers under shade, and tests of various garden crops. 

 The fruit nursery on the farm now contains several thousand trees, 

 and one acre of the farm is devoted to a model kitchen garden. Tests 

 of both Irish and sweet potatoes are being made to determine the yield 

 and keeping quality of various sorts, and other factors. Similar work 

 is also being conducted in co-operation with several state experiment 

 stations. During the past year the Department entered into a co-opera- 

 tive agreement with the Virginia experiment station in the establish- 

 ment of a truck station near Norfolk, Va. 



Various field investigations are conducted in connection with the 

 Arlington farm, and an important feature of this work is the publica- 

 tion of Farmers' Bulletins dealing with the cultivation of various crops. 

 Among the field work under way is an investigation of the Bermuda 

 onion industry in Texas and .Louisiana, demonstrations in the growing 

 of truck crops on rice lands, and a comprehensive truck crop survey. 

 For the latter feature Congress provided additional funds during the 

 past year. 



SYSTEMATIC HORTICULTURAL STUDIES IN REFERENCE TO THE IDENTIFICA- 

 TION AND DESCRIPTION OF FRUIT VARIETIES, THE SIMPLIFICA- 

 TION OF FRUIT NOMENCLATURE, ETC. 



During the course of the year many fruits are submitted to the 

 Department for identification and description. In connection with this 

 work a pomological collection is maintained. During the past year 

 3,596 fruits were submitted for examination by orchardists and fruit 

 growers. 



Considerable work in the simplification of varietal nomenclature 

 has been carried on, and several catalogues of revised terminology 

 have been published.- The lack of simplicity and uniformity in nomen- 

 clature of American fruits has been in the past a source of great losses, 



