474 



SCIENCE 



[N S. Vol. XL. No. 1031 



prosecution of studies witli specific crops. 

 Thus, for cotton $91,000 is provided for an 

 inquiry into ginning, grading, baling, and 

 ■wrapping practises. This work is extended to 

 include gin compressing and the distribution 

 of the official grades of cotton samples, and the 

 appropriation for testing the waste, tensile 

 strength, and bleaching qualities of the vari- 

 ous standard grades of cotton is increased from 

 $10,000 to $60,000. For other fiber plant 

 studies, especially with flax, $20,850 is again 

 allotted, as well as $38,000 for acclimatization 

 and adaptation work with cotton, com and 

 other crops introduced from tropical regions. 

 The tobacco studies receive $25,000; the cereal 

 investigations $135,405, of which $40,000 is 

 for corn; the studies of grain handling and 

 grading $76,320; those of drug plants 

 $55,380 ; and those of sugar beets and the pro- 

 duction of table sirup and the means of utiliz- 

 ing cane by-products $41,495. For studies in 

 fruit growing, handling and marketing $107,- 

 •500 is available, together with $56,320 for 

 ■other horticultural work, and $26,690 for the 

 imaintenance of the various departmental green- 

 ihouses and the Arlington Experimental Farm. 



Another large division of the work has to 

 do with plant diseases, $37,000 being available 

 for the maintenance of the general patholog- 

 ical laboratory and the herbarium of plant 

 diseases, $52,675 for fruit diseases, $69,510 for 

 those of forest trees and ornamentals, and 

 $46,000 for cotton and truck crops. For plant 

 physiology and plant breeding there is allotted 

 $44,540, together with $22,280 for the breeding 

 and physiological study of alkali and drought 

 resistant crops. There is also $35,000 for soil 

 bacteriology and plant nutrition studies, $25,- 

 000 for biophysics, $24,000 for economic and 

 systematic botany, $28,700 for studying and 

 testing commercial seed, $5,000 for studies of 

 methods of utilizing logged-off lands, and 

 $230,380 for studies of crop production and 

 land utilization under arid and semi-arid con- 

 ditions. 



The Forest Service receives as usual the 

 largest allotment of any bureau, its aggregate 

 being $5,548,256 as compared with $5,399,679 

 for the previous year. There are also avail- 



able the various appropriations under the 

 Appalachian Forest Reserve Act already re- 

 ferred to, certain unexpended balances from 

 the previous year, and an appropriation of 

 $100,000 for fighting and preventing forest 

 fires in cases of extraordinary emergency, this 

 being a reduction from $200,000. The bulk 

 of the appropriation is, of course, to be de- 

 voted to the protection and maintenance of the 

 individual national forests, with $400,000 for 

 the construction and maintenance of improve- 

 ments, $165,640 for reforestation, $140,000 for 

 studies of wood utilization and preservation, 

 $150,000 for forest fire protection, $25,000 

 for range studies, $83,728 for silvicultural 

 and dendrological experiments, and $40,- 

 160 for miscellaneous forest studies and the 

 dissemination of results. The selection and 

 segregation of lands within national forests 

 that may be opened to entry under the home- 

 stead laws is to be continued under an appro- 

 priation of $100,000, with an additional allot- 

 ment of $85,000 for the survey and listing of 

 those lands chiefly valuable for agriculture. 



The appropriations of the Bureau of Chem- 

 istry are increased from $1,058,140 to $1,077,- 

 581. The allotment for the enforcement of the 

 Food and Drugs Act is $634,301, with $4,280 

 additional for the study and inspection of 

 American food exports, $50,000 for studies of 

 the handling and marketing of poultry and 

 eggs, $20,000 for similar work with fish, oys- 

 ters, etc., $10,000 for biological investigations 

 of food and drug products and their constitu- 

 ents, and $52,400 for general investigations. 

 Because of a transfer to the Bureau of Stand- 

 ards of the work of testing miscellaneous sup- 

 plies purchased on contract for the various 

 departments of the government, the appropri- 

 ation for this purpose is reduced from $40,- 

 000 to $14,000. 



The various lines of work of the Bureau of 

 Soils, and the Bureau of Entomology are con- 

 tinued much as at present, with small in- 

 creases in a number of items. The Bureau of 

 Soils receives $360,635, an increase of $26,- 

 615, of which $11,500 is to extend the inquiry 

 as to possible sources of natural fertilizers, 

 particularly nitrogenous materials. The soil 



