(1) A

Sorghum investigations. This appropriation is used for four purposes. study of varieties of forage sorghums. (2) Breeding and introduction of improved varieties. (3) Cultural studies. (4) Studies on the genetics of sorghum breeding.

Cooperation is maintained chiefly with two stations, Kansas and Nebraska, though minor cooperation is maintained with four other State experiment stations. Winter legumes and green manuring. This appropriation is used for five purposes. (1) A study of winter legumes suitable for use as forage or soil improvement or for the prevention of soil erosion. (2) A study of the effect of growing legumes on the subsequent yields of cotton and corn. (3) A study of Crotalaria as a forage and soil improving crop for sandy soils. (4) The introduction of valuable varieties and species of lespedeza and of other legumes adapted to growing on acid soils. (5) Cultural and utilization studies with lespedezas. Cooperation is maintained with 12 State experiment stations, but more especially with Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, and Missouri.

Grass, pasture, and fine turf.-This appropriation is used for six purposes. (1) Testing and introducing new and valuable grasses, especially in the South. (2) Studies on breeding of improved varieties of grasses for especial needs or regions. (3) Studies on the laying down and maintenance of pasture. (4) Studies on the economic utilization of pastures. (5) The use of grasses for the prevention of soil erosion. (6) The development, culture, and diseases of fine-turf grasses. Cooperation is maintained with 15 State stations, though experimental quantities of seeds and plants are sent to many others. The most important work is done in the States of Vermont, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, West Virginia, Ohio, and Michigan.

PUBLIC WORKS ADMINISTRATION FUNDS APPLICABLE UNDER THIS HEADING

An allotment under the National Industrial Recovery Act has been made, subsequent to October 31, 1933, for physical improvements, as follows: Construction of office and laboratory building....

$7,500 Mr. RYERSON. This item is one of the very important ones of the bureau. The question of forage crops, always important, is more so at the present time due to the general planning program, land utilization, and especially in connection with the erosion projects, because the use of plants suitable for erosion control as well as for forage is an essential part of the picture.

The question of legumes for the southern States has been a pressing one for many years. The use of legumes on these eroded areas has made it doubly important. Grass and its more extensive planting is a Nation-wide question. In the West more drought resistant grasses on areas that have heretofore not borne heavy crops of grass are needed on the one hand, and on the other the restoration of grass on. overgrazed areas. In the East, the problem is pasture development.. With the marginal lands coming to the fore, it seems evident that much of this land will ultimately go back to grass. The varieties and types to be used under the widely varying conditions remain to be determined.

Under this item, too, are conducted the investigations with the soybean, a forage and industrial crop of major importance. The acreage devoted to it has grown from an area of less than 50,000 acres about 15 years ago to over 4 million acres at the present time.

USE OF SOYBEAN OIL

Ten years ago we were producing no soybean oil; this last year over 8 million pounds were produced. Ten oil mills are now in operation where 10 years ago we had none.

Mr. HART. What is the soybean oil used for?

Mr. RYERSON. It is being used for industrial purposes. At the present time Henry Ford is using it in body finishing. It goes into varnishes, linoleums, and a wide range of products.

Mr. HART. Do they use it in oleomargarine?

Mr. RYERSON. That I do not know. The detailed discussion on these items I will leave to Dr. McCall. These [indicating] parts of the new Ford ignition assembly are composed of 50 percent of soybean meal. Mr. Ford had over 7,000 acres last year, I believe more than that, and has a number of research men working on the soybean not so much as a food or a forage plant but primarily as an industrial product.

ALFALFA INVESTIGATIONS

Mr. SANDLIN. Dr. McCall, let us take up in order here alfalfa investigations first.

Dr. McCALL. Alfalfa is one of the most important forage crops produced in the United States. It has grown from an area of something like 2,000,000 acres in the early part of the century to approximately 13,000,000 acres at the present time.

At the present time the extension of alfalfa culture is confronted with a number of very serious problems which this division has been attacking in cooperation with various State-experiment stations. In the southern part of the United States alfalfa is not particularly adapted for most of the soils, because it requires a soil of alkaline reaction. Certain bottom lands, particularly in the Mississippi Delta, have proven well adapted when proper methods were worked, out, which include primarily surface drainage. By installing such surface drainage they have been able to secure very satisfactory yields.

Alfalfa is becoming an increasingly important crop in the northeastern part of the United States, being grown there in a short rotation. Diseases are very serious in this area, but because of the fact that it can be used to advantage in short rotation, the diseases do not become serious and they are able to grow the crop satisfactorily.

In the Midwest United States, in Kansas and Nebraska, particu larly, alfalfa has been seriously threatened during the past several years by alfalfa wilt. The acreage in Kansas has decreased from something like 1,300,000 to something over 725,000 acres, due pri marily to the ravages of that disease.

This problem has been attacked through cooperation with the Divi sion of Foreign Plant Introduction and certain strains of Turkestan alfalfa have been introduced which have proven highly resistant Very satisfactory progress is being made, and certain strains have been placed in commercial production. This is particularly important because of the necessity of curtailing the wheat acreage in that area. Incidentally, alfalfa wilt is spreading over the entire United States It has been found also in California, Oregon, Utah, and also in the northeastern United States.

Another phase of the investigations on alfalfa have been the studies on the suitability of foreign seed for use in this country. Following certain severe winters, there have been large importations of foreig seed and also importations of seed into the northern United State from various parts of the southern area which have been used with

very unsatisfactory results. As a result of this, certain definite information has been accumulated as to the range of adaptability of the different classes of alfalfa and it is known very definitely where seed for various parts of the country should be obtained.

The provisions of the seed act for coloring alfalfa seed from certain parts of the world is the result of these studies.

RED CLOVER

Incidentally, there might also be included a brief statement relative to the same factors in the case of red clover. It has been found that red clover seed from southern Europe, also that grown from seed of southern European origin, in our Pacific northwest, is absolutely useless in the central and eastern United States, because of its susceptibility to cold. By reason of sudies conducted by this division, farmers of the different areas have been protected against seed of unsuitable origin with attendant susceptability to certain diseases and susceptability to cold weather.

Mr. SINCLAIR. These diseases were not imported, were they?

Dr. McCALL. It is very difficult to tell about some of these things. They may or may not have been imported originally. Some of them have been in this country for many years. They have become serious in this country probably within the last 14 or 20 years. It is hard to say where some of them originally came from.

SOYBEANS, COWPEAS, AND VELVET BEANS

The second item, soybeans, cowpeas, and velvet bean investigations has been touched upon. In this connection it would be interesting to know that out of the 20 varieties of soybeans which are produced in commercial quantities in the United States, 15 bave been developed by the Department of Agriculture in cooperation with the States stations, either from importations or selections made from importations brought in by the Division of Foreign Plant Introduction.

GRASS-PASTURE INVESTIGATIONS

In connection with grass-pasture studies, the importance of these can hardly be overestimated. Any readjustment in agriculture in this country must include the return of a large acreage to grass pasture. This is also good business because the most profitable utilization of feed, from the standpoint of livestock, comes from pasture. The cheapest beef, the cheapest dairy products, are produced from pasture, and in the withdrawal of acreage from intensive cultivation in crops, like corn, wheat and so forth, it is possible to maintain a profitable agriculture without increasing total production to much better advantage by the utilization of pasture and forage crops than through any other means.

In that connection it is surely desirable and necessary that we have more information regarding the proper way of growing and maintaining pastures in order that they shall be profitable, particularly on the older lands in the east. In many cases pastures at this time are not profitable, but by rotation, the application of fertilizers, and proper pasturing methods, it has been possible to develop a pasture management system that does yield a profit. In the case of the New

England farmer, for instance, it has proven to be more profitable to rotate their good land, their plow land, using it in pasture, than it is to use the same land for growing crops which are cut and fed for feed. There has been a certain amount of suspicion on the part of some dairy interests regarding the increase of pasture in an adjustment program, it being their opinion that this would lead to an unusual increase in dairy production. Actually, from the standpoint of producing feed, this is the most feasible way of using the land without increasing nutrients. It is actually the most effective method of decreasing the total output of animal units per acre that could be devised. The ordinary corn, clover, wheat rotation will produce twice the feed units per acre that a good pasture system will produce; although the profit per animal unit produced from this greater amount of feed is not as great. The difference lies in labor and other expenses. Mr. HART. The question of whether that policy would work out would depend a good deal upon the area and the cost of labor?

Dr. MCCALL. Yes; that, of course, always has to be taken into consideration, but by and large for the country as a whole the statement is true.

Mr. HART. When we answer the problem of using more acreage profitably and decreasing labor, then you are again shunting the labor into the cities and you have an unending problem.

Dr. McCALL. Of course the economic and social difficulties of the problems are always with us.

WINTER LEGUMES AND GREEN MANURING

The work with winter legumes and green manuring is a most important phase of the work of this division. Most of the legume crops require neutral or alkaline soils for their best growth, and the soils of practically our entire southeastern and southern United States are acid. It has been an extremely difficult problem to find suitable legumes for this area. Through the division of Foreign Plant Introduction, lespedezas have been introduced from the Orient and have been tested. One of these, Korean, is now widely grown. A seed supply of 240 pounds of this variety was released by the Department in 1922, and in 1932 there were 18,000,000 pounds sold for sowing in the area extending from the Carolinas through to Missouri, including Kentucky, Tennessee, part of Arkansas, and the southern part of Indiana and Illinois. I think that Mr. Cannon knows something about the value of lespedezas in the agriculture of that belt. Mr. CANNON. Our farmers are very enthusiastic over it. We introduced it only a year or two ago but is meeting with surprising favor.

Dr. McCALL. As an example, in Missouri they have developed a rotation which they consider highly profitable, sowing lespedeza with winter wheat, harvesting the winter wheat, pasturing the lespedeza during the summer when other pasture is not good. The lespedeza seeds itself back. Wheat is again sown in the fall without plowing, the wheat and lespedeza following one another with a minimum of cost and with good yields.

Mr. CANNON. In the months of July and August in our country there is usually no good bluegrass pasture.

Mr. SINCLAIR. Is it something like clover?

Dr. McCALL. It is the so-called "Japan clover." There are strains of the lespedezas adapted to different parts of the country. One strain of common lespedeza has been developed which will seed as far north as central Indiana.

Mr. RYERSON. There is one on trial, that will seed as far north as Middleboro, Vt. It is slow growing, and our forage specialists are not ready as yet to say much about it.

Mr. CANNON. What is the source of the lespedezas?

Mr. RYERSON. The Orient. The few introduced species we have gotten in from that part of the world have opened up many possibilities. There are at least 100 more species over there which we have not yet been able to secure and introduce. We find that they are much more valuable than our native species.

Mr. CANNON. It comes from a temperate climate?

Mr. RYERSON. Yes, sir; China, Manchuria, Korea, Japan and through that general region.

Dr. MCCALL. One of the new lespedezas is a perennial and grows more like alfalfa, producing a good hay crop. We are not able to say just what its possibilities are, but certain growers are enthusiastic about it. It is apparently adapted to the same range as the Korean.

CLOVER INVESTIGATIONS

Proceeding to the clover studies, these are cooperative with the State stations, and are concerned primarily with the studies of disease resistance, etc. Certain strains are being developed for example, for the Ohio River valley which are adapted to that area and which are resistant to anthrocnose. These strains grown in Oregon for 3 years and retransferred back to the Ohio Valley are retaining this disease resistance. There is every indication that the seed industry of the Pacific northwest, which has been seriously handicapped by reason of the fact that their strains of southern European origin which are not adapted to eastern areas, can now be replaced by strains that can be marketed in the East.

FORAGE SORGHUM INVESTIGATIONS

In connection with forage sorghum investigations, there is every reason to believe that great improvement can be made in the forage sorghum varieties that are now available. New varieties are now under test which should advance yield and quality of forage sorghums for the sorghum belt.

I think that briefly covers the forage work.

SOYBEAN PRODUCTS

Mr. RYERSON. I might add, referring back to soy beans, we have three samples here [indicating] the bean, the oil and here is the flour. Here is also a can of soybean milk. We could load this table with 200 or 300 different byproducts of all kinds, industrial as well as for food. The latter are finding use particularly among invalids and children. The flour is going into bread which can be purchased in Washington now.

Mr. CANNON. Made exclusively of soybean meal or in combination with other ingredients?