The studies in electroculture which have been referred to previously are being carried on in a very minor way at the present time, but some rather important results were obtained of a negative nature. From time to time, individuals have tried to promote in this country companies for the sale of electrical equipment to farmers, orchardists, and so forth, with the idea that they could be used to increase crops. The studies in this division have shown rather clearly and conclusively that most of this is an idea in the mind of the promoters, and the Department has been in a position to give advice and information to those writing in on this subject.

USE OF PAPER MULCH

A few years ago the Hawaiian pineapple growers, in an attempt to control weed growth, began using paper mulch, and not only did this control weeds, but it had some rather interesting effects on growth. The division of genetics and biophysics undertook related studies, using paper mulch with different crops, as result of which many home gardens over the country are now using paper mulch. Some effects of that are shown here in the bulletin I have, on the influence on tomatoes. The growth is more rapid. They get larger yields and even or more importance, a considerably earlier yield.

The mulch can be used to promote the rapid growth of sweet corn. Sweet corn can be had maybe a week or two earlier under mulching than otherwise.

Mr. THURSTON. Does that apply to hay or straw just the same as it would to paper mulch?

Mr. RICHEY. Studies are under way on different mulches.
Mr. THURSTON. Farmers can get that kind of a mulch.

Mr. RICHEY. This division is studying different kinds of mulches. They are studying asphalt blocks, which can be installed in a home garden, rocks, and various things that appear to have somewhat similar effects. We do not know much about the underlying causes of why these results are obtained. At first it seemed might they be due to higher temperature, but that does not account for some of the rather remarkable results obtained under these mulches.

Mr. CANNON. I have used this mulch paper myself, and it has given remarkable results. It eliminated the weeds. It retains the moisture in temporary droughts much better than anything else, and it seems, for some reason or other, to advance the date of maturity. Our only objection to it was that it was too expensive. I have forgotten what the expense was, but I remember we decided that in potatoes, for instance, we could better afford to use a straw mulch than to use a paper mulch, but, if the paper could be made cheap enough it is a remarkable improvement.

Mr. HART. What sort of paper is used?

Mr. RICHEY. A special paper manufactured for the purpose. There are at least two of them, and I think both are patented, which is perhaps one of the reasons they are so high.

Mr. CANNON. It is a very tough paper; it is pliable and it stands the wear and tear.

Mr. RICHEY. In this division they are trying to get at the underlying causes for some of the results obtained, in the hope that we can evolve a cheaper and more satisfactory method for that.

35962-34-32

Mr. THURSTON. What is the composition of that? Wood pulp? Mr. RICHEY. I do not believe I know. Dr. Brandes, do you happen to know the composition of that mulch paper?

Dr. BRANDES. In Hawaii it is made of bagasse. In the continental United States, I could not say.

Mr. RYERSON. I think it is a cheaper form of wood pulp, asphalted. Mr. THURSTON. Could straw be used for that purpose?

Mr. RICHEY. I do not believe it would make a tough enough paper, and the processing would be expensive.

Mr. CANNON. It is not an ordinary paper. It has to be tough and resistant and, as I recall it, it has some fiber in it and some slight air space, too, as I recall it.

Mr. SINCLAIR. This paper mulch, you cannot use it the second time?

Mr. CANNON. Just one season.

Mr. THURSTON. I remember where the Department of Agriculture was raising tomatoes by placing the plant in water without contact to earth whatever.

Mr. RYERSON. They grow tomatoes and various plants in nutritive solution without soils, experimentally. The University of California got out a publication stating they had found they could carry different plants through to fruition without any soil by adding the different things in water.

Mr. THURSTON. Does that mean the water has all of the necessary properties that the soil has?

Mr. RYERSON. They are added. But water is not a good anchor for a plant and that is one of the main functions of soil, but the different food elements can be added that the plant needs. Of course, in all kinds of experimental work this principle is used daily to try and find out what is wrong with plants, and it can be done.

MYCOLOGY AND DISEASE SURVEY

Mr. SANDLIN. The next item is:

Mycology and disease survey: For mycological collections and the maintenance of a plant-disease survey, $39,342.

Mr. RYERSON. The following statement is presented for this estimate:

Increase, budget 1935, compared with estimated obligations,
1934.

2, 020

The reduction of $6,791 in the 1935 estimate of $39,342 below the appropriation of $46,133 for 1934 consists of:

WORK DONE UNDER THIS APPROPRIATION

The work under this appropriation includes the collection and study of plant parasites and other fungi, surveys of plant diseases in the United States, and investigations on the culture and diseases of mushrooms.

Mycology.-Work under this project consists of maintenance of collections of specimens of plant parasites and other fungi having relation to injury or destruction of economic plants and plant products, their identification, and preservation for technical study and reference purposes. The herbarium maintained under

this project serves as a repository for fungus material on which the pathological work of other divisions of the Bureau of Plant Industry has been based and the project functions as a service unit for the pathological workers of these divisions as well as those of the various State stations.

Plant disease survey.-Work under this project consists of surveys to determine the geographic distribution, prevalence, and rate of spread of plant diseases in the United States and losses caused by disease, as well as the appearance of new or dangerous diseases and eipdemics or unusual outbreaks of disease. Files are maintained in which the information thus accumulated is always available and, in cooperation with the Mycology project, files for plant disease literature of the world are maintained. This project also collects current information on the status of plant diseases throughout the United States, and by means of a mim. eographed periodical, distributes this information to pathologists in this country and abroad. All of the lines of work carried on under this project are of national or large regional scope. It is indeed the only organization in the country in which an attempt is made to study the significance of all plant diseases on a national basis. While it is impossible to cover satisfactorily so large a field with very limited funds, no problems of purely local interest are considered. Mushroom investigations.-Work under this project consists of investigations of the causes and control of mushroom diseases, particularly the truffle and Mycogone diseases and related problems of mushroom_culture. Mushrooms are grown to a greater or less extent in every State in the Union with the possible exception of a few of the more southern ones, and the diseases are equally widespread. The truffle disease which is now causing the most concern to the industry was first found and studied in Ohio but is now known from Ohio, Pennsylvania, New York, Maryland, Illinois, Minnesota, and Colorado. Other phases of the work of the projects are equally widespread. The project includes the development of new industries through efforts to establish in the United States cultivations of the European Truffle, the Japanese mushroom and to grow under artificial conditions the Morel and other desirable edible wild types (Bureau of Entomology cooperating).

Dr. RYERSON. The work under this project involves the collection and maintenance of specimens of plant parasites and other fungi that affect economic plants and plants products. They are used as a basis for identification and technical study in relation to our other plant pathology problems. The disease survey is conducted in cooperation with the various States and gives us a basis of determination as to how prevalent different diseases are, the rate they are spreading, the losses occurring; in other words, a general complete picture of the plant disease situation at any one time. Mushroom investigations are also conducted under this project. Doctor Brandes can answer any specific questions on these projects.

NATIONAL ARBORETUM

Mr. SANDLIN. The next item is National Arboretum, and the item is as follows:

National Arboretum: For the maintenance of the National Arboretum, established under the provisions of the Act entitled "An Act authorizing the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a National Arboretum, and for other purposes' approved March 4, 1927 (U.S.C., Supp. VI, title 20, secs. 191-194), including the erection of buildings, salaries in the city of Washington and elsewhere, traveling expenses of employees and advisory council, and other necessary expenses, $4,146, of which such amounts as may be necessary may be expended by contract

or otherwise for the services of consulting landscape architects without reference to the Classification Act of 1923, as amended, or Civil Service rules.

Mr. RYERSON. The following statement is submitted for the record:

Increase, budget 1935, compared with estimated obligations,
1934_

107

The reduction of $612 in the 1935 estimate of $4,146 below the appropriation of $4,758 for 1934 consists of:

WORK DONE UNDER THIS APPROPRIATION

This item is for development of the arboretum established under the Act of March 4, 1927. This work covers merely the minimum of maintenance of the tract of land, pending the purchase of additional land.

EMERGENCY FUNDS APPLICABLE UNDER THIS HEADING

Allotment under the National Industrial Recovery Act has been made for physical improvements and for land acquisition, as follows:

Cleaning up arboretum area, chiefly hand labor..

$4,000

Acquisition of land at the arboretum site for forest research purposes. 386, 000

390,000

Mr. SANDLIN. We have that appropriation down to $4,000. Mr. RYERSON. This item, of course, leaves very little to do much with the arboretum.

Mr. SANDLIN. You just police the land out there?

Mr. RYERSON. Yes. We do have this emergency fund which we are now spending to clean up the area. We have also been allotted funds for the purchase of ground to round out the arboretum holdings. Mr. SANDLIN. Do you have the administration of that fund? Mr. RYERSON. Yes, sir.

PURCHASE OF LAND

Mr. SANDLIN. What are you doing with reference to the purchase of that land? How far has it gone?

Mr. RYERSON. As I understand it, they expect by the end of this month to have most of that land purchased, all of it, if possible. Negotiations are now actively under way and they hope within the very near future to have the rest of that land in shape so we can go ahead with our plans whenever funds are provided.

Mr. CANNON. That will all be owned, then, rather than leased? Mr. RYERSON. Yes, sir.

Mr. SANDLIN. What will that cost an acre, about?

Mr. RYERSON. That I do not know, sir. I would have to insert that in the record. I have not been in close touch with it.

Mr. CANNON. It was largely waste land?

Mr. RYERSON. Yes, sir. Perhaps there are a few dwellings, one or two gas stations, although I believe the gas stations have been cut out of the land under consideration. It is largely rolling land in the vicinity of the so-called "Hickey Hill", south of the National Training School.

Mr. CANNON. It leads down into the marsh?

Mr. RYERSON. Yes, one side, and for a short distance it comes out on the Bladensburg Road, but most of it is back from the highway, and drops down to the land that the Army is now dredging, and into the area occupied partly by the water-lily gardens, which are expected to become a part of the arboretum.

Mr. SANDLIN. You do not know the acreage that is contemplated purchasing?

Mr. RYERSON. Approximately 400.

Mr. SANDLIN. That would be about $1,000 an acre?

Mr. RYERSON. I expect some of that land will be held for that. Some of it I believe is under condemnation and, as a result, as pointed out yesterday, the prices have jumped up and we have difficulty in keeping them down, I believe much of it has gone through condemnation. Has it not, Mr. Jump?

Mr. JUMP. Yes; it went through condemnation and the award exceeded the amount that we could pay under the previous appropriation. A great deal of difficulty has arisen due to the fact that the owners of the land with this condemnation award standing over the land and the inability of the Government to pay after it was condemned, were interfered with since they were unable to dispose of their property, if they wanted to comply and cooperate with the ultimate plans of the Government, but it is hoped that all of these matters can now be ironed out under this Public Works allotment.

PURPOSE OF ARBORETUM

Mr. SANDLIN. Just what do they expect to do with the land after they get it? What will be done with it?

Mr. RYERSON. An arboretum has several purposes. In the first place, through permanent planting of native plants and introduced plants as well, scientists as well as the general public can go to study a wide range of trees and shrubs in a natural setting in a permanent place. We consider the scientific work to be carried on there especially valuable. It will be right here close to all our other scientific work. There is no place here at present where there is an opportunity to go and observe permanently maintained trees and plants under natural conditions, varying from a marshy environment to that of a high hill with all the variations between.

It will be a place for the public especially, and a place where school children can become acquainted with hundreds of species of growing

We will conduct various scientific activities there, one of which will be the breeding of fast-growing forest trees, as already mentioned in the hearings, a line of work which is new. The only place where forest tree breeding investigations are going forward in this country on a comprehensive plan at this time is at the Institute.