The progressive farmer. [volume] (Winston, N.C.) 1886-1904, 1901-05-28
Agriculture.
WORK OF THE NATIONAL DEPARTMENT
OF AGRICULTURE.
Our Washington Correspondent Describes
Some of Its Recent Movements.

Correspondence Of The Progressive Farmer.
The Department. of Agriculture is
now distributing throughout the
middle section of the country orange
seedlings obtained only by crossing
the hardy but worthless Japanese
orange with the tender but sweet
Florida product. These seedlings
are expected to thrive out of doors
as far north as this city. Expert
ments along the line indicated were
begun by the Department five years
ago. A citrus trifoliata, or the
Japanese orange, which is extensive
ly used for hedges, was selected as a
parent, and it's buds we're fertilized
with pollen from the sweet orange.
A double cross was made by fertiliz-
ing the buds of sweet orange tree
with pollen from Japanese orange.
The crossing of the Japanese and
sweet orange trees continues, and
citrus trifoliata, now blooming in
the grounds of the Department of
Agriculture, has within the last two
or three days been impregnated with
sweet pollen, and the blossoms COW
cred with paper bags to prevent fer
tilization with other pollen borne in
the wind or carried by insects.
The Yearbook for 1900 is almost
ready.
A farmers bulletin treating of the
principal insect enemies of growing
wheat has been prepared by G. L.
Marlatt, First Assistant Entomolo-
gist of the Department of Agricul-
ture. Mr.. Marlatt discusses the
chinch bng, Hessian fly, wheat midge;
wheat plant louise, straw worms,
bulb worms, army worms and saw
flies. "There are numerous insects,
he says, "the number running into
the hundreds, which feed on and in
jure growing wheat. Most of these
insects are of rare or chance occur
renee, and have no economic import
ance whatever, although the fact
that they are found on wheat often
leads the farmer to be curious about
them or unnecessarily arOuses his
fears. The great proportion of the
losses to wheat fields which is charge
able to insects is due to the attacks
of less than a half dozen species.
These, in the order to their import
ance, are the chinch bug, the Hes
sian fly, the wheat midge and the
grain plant louise. OF secOnd-Tate
importance are such insects as the
wheat straw worms, the wheat bulb
worm, army worms, cut worms and
various saw flies. Then there fol-
lows a great horde of insects of minor
Importance which need not be con-
sidered in this connection. This is
leaving out of consideration the
locusts, or grasshoppers, including
the Rocky Mountain, or migratory
species, which occasionally injUre
wheat, but such injury is unusual
and as g rule limited to migratiOns
of lOcusts from one section to an
other, which are of infrequent oc-
ourrence nowadays, at least in the
principal winter wheat-grOwing re-
gions. and have never been note
worthy except in the western dis
clean culture and rotation of crops
as the best and simplest means of
preventing the increase of the pests.
The latest crop report of the Agri-
cultural Department asserts that the
present acreage of wheat under cul-
tivation with that sOwn last fall is
s3. 5 per cent. as compared with that
harvested last year it is 1877 per
cent. The average condition of the
wheat was on May 94.1; of rye was
$50; of meadow grass, 92.8; and of
spring pasture, 91.5. About 81 per
cent. of the spring plowing had been
done on May 1. Put in another
form, there were %, ,267, 900 acres of
winter wheat under cultivation on
May /, this being 2,O15, 900 acres, or
81 per cent. less than the area sOwn
last fall, but 100000 acres, or ~
per cent. in excess of the winter
wheat acreage harvested last year.
Of the reduction, about one-half is
reported from Texas and California,
due in the former State to the raw
ages Of the wheat plant louise, sand in
the latter to the cutting, as Is not
unusual in that State, of consider
able acreage of forage. E. q. 3.