Page:United States Statutes at Large Volume 35 Part 1.djvu/274

 256 SIXTIETH CONGRESS. Sess. I. Ch. 192. 1908. _ messenger boys, at three hundred and sixty_ dollars each; two mes senger boys, at three hundred dollars each; in all, one hundred and eighty-seven thousand four hundred and ten dollars. _ _ §§,°;;,°'g{‘g.°,§§,$‘g_”· GENERAL Exrmzsms, BUREAU or PLANT INDUSTRY: '1`0 investigate fruits, fruit trees, grain, cotton, tobacco, vegetables, grasses, forage, drug, medicinal, poisonous, fiber, and other plants and plant industries, in cooperation with other branches of the Department, the State experiment stations, and practical farmers; to continue the study and demonstration of the best methods of meeting the ravages of the cotton boll weevil; to study plant and orchard diseases and emonstrate the treatment of same; to study plant physiology in relation to crop production; to originate and improve crops by breedh;5 and selection; to investigate and encourage the adoption of improv methods of farm management and farm practice; to investigate the feeding value of farm crops and the use 0 fertilizers; to investigate the causes of decay in forest timber and timber used for construction purposes, and to devise means for preventing the decay of the same; to investigate the practical application in airiculture of the fixation of atmospheric nitrogen by bacteria and other micro-organisms in soils and m the root \ tubercles of leguminous and other plants; to cultivate and distribute these nitrogen iixers; to study and iiud methods for preventing algal and other eontaminations of farm water supplies; to carry on special investigations of the conditions of grain pr uction, handling, grading, and transit, and of the means of improving the same; to model fruits, vegetables, and other plants, and furnié duplicate models to the experiment stations of the several States, as far as found practicable; to investigate the methods of harvesting, packing, storing, and shipping fruits and vegetables, and for experimental shipments of fruits and vegetables wit in the United States and to foreign countries; to cultivate and care for experimental gardens and gtounds, manage and maintain conservatories, greenhouses, and plant and fruit propagating Arlington experi- houses; to enable the Secretar of Agricu ture to continue the neces- “°m“"”"“‘ sary improvements to establish and maintain a general ex erimental farm and agricultural station on the Arlington estate, in the State of V0l.31,P·l35· Virginia, in accordance with the provisions of the Act of Congress T°° °°““'°"°“- approved April eighteenth, nineteen hundred; to investigate and S mmm report on the cost of growing and curing tea and the best method of "“'"’ °"‘ cu tivating and preparing the same for market; to investigate and develop the domestic production of SIlg2\I'-l)0Gt¤ seed and the best metho s of increasing the tonnage of sugar beets; to continue inquiry and ascertain the progress made in the production of domestic sugar from beets and sorghum and other suganproducing plants; to collect, purchase, propagate, test, and experiment with rare new seeds, bulbs, l“'°”“—‘”""*‘· °"°· trees. shrubs, vines, cuttings, and plants; for the employment of investigators, local and special agents, agricultural explorers, experts, clerks. illustrators, assistants, student or scientilic aids, foremen, gardeners. mechanics, and all other labor and scientific assistance required in conducting investigations and experiments in the city of \Vashing- _ I ton and elsewhere. ,0,l°,l$§if'],f‘“‘l"“ l“' For collating, mapping, illustrating, digesting, printing. reporting, publishing, and disseminating information on the results of these m;fjjP "* g’“"· °‘°·· investigations and experiments. And the Secretary of Agriculture is hereby directed to obtain in the open market samples of seeds of grass, clover, or alfalfa, test the same, and if any such seeds are found to he adulterated or misbranded, or any seeds of Canada blue grass (Poa compressa) are obtained under any other name than Canada blue grass or Pea coinpressa, to publish the results of the tests, together with the _ _ names of the persons by whom the seeds were offered for sale. of§jj{‘,g{fh’“g €'“°¤ To enable the Secretary of Agriculture to establish a standard for the different grades of cotton, calling to his assistance for that purpose