Appended is a statement of the results of a quarter-century's campaign against plant diseases, taken from the current report of the Bureau: '

While there is no question that very great benefit in the production of many crops resulted from methods of disease control established by the Bureau, it is difficult in most cases to estimate this benefit in dollars and cents. Some items which can be estimated with a reasonable degree of accuracy are as follows:

For the prevention of bunt disease of wheat the copper-carbonate treatment was applied to the seed sown on at least 3,300,000 acres in 1925. More recent data are not available, but in view of the fact that a large acreage in Minnesota, the Dakotas, and Montana was sown with copper-carbonate-treated seed in the spring of 1926, it seems safe to estimate that one-tenth of the total 57,000,000 acres of wheat grown in the United States during the current year was sown with seed treated with copper-carbonate. On the basis of reduced bunt infection, improved germination in comparison with ordinarily disinfected seed, better stands, saving in seed requirements, etc., the net gain of this seed treatment, developed in the coöperative work of the department and the State experiment stations, is at least 5,000,000 bushels, and in all probability this may be effected annually.

The discovery that heat canker of flax can be largely controlled by earlier seeding has resulted in a much wider application of this practice. On the average, better yields are obtained from early seeding, so the value resulting from this discovery is much greater than the direct one resulting from the control of the canker itself. It is probably quite conservative to estimate a gain of at least 500,000 bushels annually from earlier seeding.

The average annual benefit from the control of black rot and mildew of the grape and other diseases of grapes, small fruits, and cranberries through methods of spraying discovered or improvements devised by the department, while impossible of exact determination, is known to be very great.

In the prevention of peach-leaf curl and California peach blight through methods of spraying discovered by the department an annual saving of about 2,000,000 bushels of peaches has been brought about.

The development of self-boiled lime-sulphur spray gave growers control of brown rot and scab of peaches, and to growers of stone fruits this has saved 12,000,000 bushels annually.

The development of successful spraying and sanitation for apple bitter rot, blotch, scab, and scald, and the development of the oiled wraps for apples have approximated annual gains or savings of 20,000,000 bushels of merchantable fruit.

'Annual Report, 1926, pp. 1-3.

The method developed for combating citrus scab, melanose, stem-end rot, blue-mold rot, dieback, chlorosis, and foot rot have resulted in an annual saving of about 500,000 boxes of citrus fruit.

Previous to the 1909 orange crop the losses sustained by the California orange growers from the rotting of oranges in transit ranged from 8 to 20 per cent of the total shipment, averaging around 12 per cent. The investigational work of the Bureau which showed the necessity of careful handling of oranges clearly demonstrated that it was feasible to reduce the losses from rot in transit from the averages then prevailing to around 2 per cent. In addition to the actual increase in quantity of sound oranges delivered in the markets, the unit value of the crop has been decidedly increased by the improved methods of handling, including more efficient refrigeration equipment and practice. The general appearance and condition of the fruit are so superior at the time of delivery at the market that its selling value is very much greater than was possible when so large a percentage of deterioration took place during the transit period.

Three extensive direct-service campaigns to put into effect results of research work in the control of important plant diseases have been developed in coöperation with the States concerned, as follows:

The campaign for the eradication of citrus canker, a bacterial disease of citrus fruits and trees, was undertaken in 1915, in coöperation with the Gulf States, namely, Florida, Alabama, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Texas. The disease has now been practically eliminated from the greater portion of the commercial citrus-growing region, and, with the exception of scattered infections of nursery stock in Louisiana, no new infections have been reported recently. There is no question that the large citrus industry in Florida has been saved by this intensive campaign.

The coöperative program for the control of white-pine blister rust, a parasitic fungus affecting alternately white pines and currant and gooseberry bushes, was undertaken in 1917, when from the preliminary work it had become apparent that the rust was so widespread that it could not be eliminated from the country. By 1921 it had been conclusively demonstrated that local control of the rust could be practically and effectively accomplished under eastern forest conditions by the eradication of all currants and gooseberries within 900 feet of white-pine stands, and in 1922 an 8-year coöperative control program, including eradication of currants and gooseberries from the pine stands and their immediate vicinities, was undertaken with New York and the New England States. In 1921 the rust was found in western Washington and in British Columbia, and, since the Idaho white-pine belt and other pine regions were threatened with the spread of the disease, a coöp

erative 10-year program was inaugurated in 1924 with California, Oregon, Washington, Idaho, and Montana to delay the spread of the disease and to develop control measures.

The campaign to eradicate the common barberry, for the purpose of reducing stem-rust losses of small grains, was undertaken in 1917 with Colorado, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Michigan, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Ohio, South Dakota, Wisconsin, and Wyoming. It is evident that barberry eradication is a material aid in the solution of the stem-rust problem. A single infected barberry bush has been known to cause a local loss to wheat growers, in one township in one year, of more than 10,000 bushels of grain. In the eastern winter-wheat producing States of the eradication area stem rust of wheat is controlled as soon as the barberries are eradicated from a locality. If the more than 12,000,000 harmful barberry bushes, seedlings, and sprouting bushes already destroyed had been allowed to continue to grow in grain-producing areas of the United States there is no question that the grain crop would have been many times more severely jeopardized every year than with these centers of infection eradicated.

CHAPTER III

ORGANIZATION

The regular personnel of the Bureau of Plant Industry numbers about 1200, all positions being under the classified civil service. General Administration. At the head is a Chief, who is responsible to the Secretary of Agriculture, and an Associate Chief. These two officers exercise the same general administrative functions, dividing the work between them, and share in the direction of the investigational activities.

An Assistant to the Chief is in charge of business operations. There is a Property Room and an Office of Records, each in the charge of a Senior Administrative Assistant, and a Photographic Laboratory under an Associate Physiologist.

An Assistant in Charge of Publications is responsible for the editing and preparation for the printer of manuscripts prepared by investigators, and generally for all printing required by the Bureau.

The library service is largely departmental in character, but the Bureau of Plant Industry has some of its personnel assigned to work in the central library. A small library staff within the Bureau is engaged in research and reference work.

Scientific Offices. Unlike most of the other bureaus in the executive departments the Bureau of Plant Industry is not organized into divisions and sections. Instead, it has groups of projects, and an assembling of these groups into the lines of activity as laid down in the acts of appropriation. Responsible for each line of work is an Office, of which there are twenty-seven. The allocation of activities among these organization units is presented below.

Office of Tobacco and Plant Nutrition. This Office conducts the plant nutrition investigations of the Bureau, dealing with the growth, development, and composition of plants as affected by length of day, the effect of different systems of crop rotation, plant-food elements, and the relative plant-food requirements of crops commonly grow in rotation. On account of the significant

results of this work in connection with tobacco, it has been joined administratively with the regular tobacco investigations, which include the breeding and selection of improved varieties, cultural methods, crop handling, and combating of diseases. A Physiologist is in charge.

Office of Seed Laboratory. The seed testing laboratories examine and report upon samples of forage-crop seeds tendered for importation into this country and samples of domestic seeds bought in the open market. It also conducts a general educational service in the interest of pure seed for the farmer. A Botanist is in charge of the Office and Laboratory in Washington. In the field there are four coöperative laboratories.

Office of Foreign Plant Introduction. The Office of Foreign Plant Introduction obtains new and promising seeds and plants through exploration and correspondence and tests them at field stations or through coöperation with other agencies, public and private. It is also interested in plant propagation and in the development of certain plant industries. An Agricultural Explorer is in charge. Attached to the Office are plant introduction gardens in different parts of the country.

Office of Crop Physiology and Breeding. A Physiologist is in charge of the Office of Crop Physiology and Breeding, which investigates the physiology of crop plants with a view to determining the limiting factors which control their successful culture and conducts the breeding and testing of new varieties. Particular attention is given to dates, figs, citrus fruits, pistaches, and certain drought-resistant tree crops. Several field stations are maintained and investigations are conducted on some Southwestern Indian reservations to determine the crop plants best suited for culture by the Indians.

Office of Horticulture. The work of the Office of Horticulture has to do with the improvement of methods of breeding, culture, utilization, storage, and transportation of fruits, truck, and related crops; vegetable and landscape gardening; and floriculture and related subjects. It is directed by a Horticulturist, who has a number of field stations under his jurisdiction.

Office of Alkali and Drought-Resistant Crops. This Office investigates the alkali resistance of crop plants; develops by breeding