Directory of Activities Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural

-710.47 Directory of Activities oj the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering 1952 1 yV^g-^-zW "««'• ^^•^" "T« v CArli «y-j sec y^* LIBRARY V ; V ^i^ Agriculture Handbook No. 47 United States Department of Agriculture rpHIS DIRECTORY is issued for the information ■■• of employees, cooperators, and others interested in the work of the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering. Included are brief state- ments of the history and functions of the Bureau and a map showing the locations of field activities. The following information is given for each station: (1) The name of the person in charge; and (2) the nature of the research work, showing divisions in charge« This handbook supersedes MisceUaneous Publication 645. Beltsville, Md. Issued September 1952 United States Department of Agriculture Agricultural Research Administration Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering Directory of Activities of the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering 1952 Agriculture Handbook No. 47 UNITED STATES GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE WASHINGTON : 1952 For sale by the Superintendent of Documents, U. S. Government Printing Office Washington 25, D. C. - Price 40 cents ORGANIZATION Chief of Bureau A. H. Moseman Assistant Chiefs: General Bureau Administration F. P. CuUinan Program Planning and Coordination K. S. Quisenberry Business Administration Edmund Stephens Bureau Staff Units Divisions of— Budget Management V. H. Beach Fiscal and Business Management E.H. Killen Personnel Management J. P. McAuley Information L. E. Childers Biometrical Services D. D. Mason Agricultural Engineering Group—E. G. McKihhen, Director Divisions of— Farm Buildings and Rural Housing Wallace Ashby Farm Electrification T. E. Hienton Farm Machinery R. B. Gray Mechanical Processing of Farm Products W. M. Hurst Field Crops Group—(vacancy), Director Divisions of— Cereal Crops and Diseases H.A. Rodenhiser Cotton and Other Fiber Crops and Diseases. H. D. Barker Forage Crops and Diseases D. F. Beard Rubber Plant Investigations R. D. Rands Sugar Plant Investigations C. H. Wadleigh Tobacco, Medicinal, and Special Crops D. M. Crooks Weed Investigations R. L. Lovvorn Horticultural Crops Group—/. R, Magness, Director Divisions of— Forest Pathology i L. M. Hutchins Fruit and Nut Crops and Diseases J. R. Magness Handling, Transportation, and Storage of W. T. Pentzer Horticultural Crops. Mycology and Disease Survey J. A. Stevenson Nematology Investigations G. Steiner Ornamental-Plant Crops and Diseases S. L. Emsweller Plant Exploration and Introduction C. O. Erlanson Vegetable Crops and Diseases V. R. Boswell Soils Group—F. W, Parker, Director Divisions of— ^ Fertilizer and Agricultural Lime K. D. Jacob Soil Management and Irrigation Agriculture. R. Q. Parks Soil Survey C. E. Kellogg National Arboretum (Assistant Director) H. A. Gunning Plant Industry Station Supervision H. P. Sevy and M. C. Miller Library (Branch of USD A Library) L. A. Caswell II Directory of Activities of the Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering: 1952 Contents Page Scope of activities 1 Plant Industry Station 3 Background 4. Organization 5 Field activities 19 Foreign stations 117 Index of personnel 125 SCOPE OF ACTIVITIES The Bureau of Plant Industry, Soils, and Agricultural Engineering does research on crops, soil, machinery, storage, transportation, and housing problems of general and sjjecial- ized farming and gardening. Most of the work is in co- operation with the State agricultural experiment stations. At the close of the fiscal year 1952 the Bureau had research in progress on 925 projects at 199 locations in 45 States, the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Canal Zone, and 11 Latin American countries. Studies in the plant sciences are concerned with reducing the hazards of production, improving the yield and quality of crop plants, and lowering costs of producing and market- ing crops. They include : 1. Introduction and testing of promising seeds and plants from foreign countries as potential domestic crops and for the genetic improvement of crops now grown. Ladino clover and Korean lespedeza are good examples of introduced crops. 2 PLANT INDUSTRY, SOILS, AND ENGINEERING Today's winter-hardy grains, disease-resistant vegetables, and high-yielding forage crops reflect improvements result- ing from introduced plants. 2. Breeding plants that will produce crops of high yields and good quality and with resistance to diseases, insects, heat, cold, drought. The research covers field crops, horticultural crops, problems of transportation and storage, and disease investigations of forest and shade trees. 3. Studies of the causes of plant diseases and methods for their control. Crop plant diseases are under continual survey. The Bureau conducts a warning service to alert grow- ers when severe outbreaks of certain major diseases threaten. 4. Fundamental studies of the nature of plants and key factors in their environment. The findings help build up a reservoir of knowledge out of which may come many practi- cal applications. The discovery that plant-growth regula- tors such as 2,4-D could be used to kill weeds is an example. Research on soils cmd their management is focused on the relation between the soils and the crops grown on them. It covers: 1. The basic physical and chemical properties of soils and studies of microscopic plants and animals and their effect on crops. 2. Methods of cultivation, irrigation, and crop rotation and problems associated with saline and alkaline soils. 3. Investigations on the development of new fertilizers and other soil amendments, their application to the soil, and new techniques for measuring them precisely with radioactive isotopes. 4. Classification and mapping of the soils of the United States in detail—usually on a county basis—to indicate po- tentials for production. Studies are in progress in connec- tion with the development of the basins of the Missouri, Colorado, and Columbia Eivers. Investigations in agricultural engineering are concerned with the efficient use of power, labor, machines, and materials in farming. They include: 1. Improvement of farm machinery and equipment for seedbed preparation, planting, fertilizer placement, cultivation, and harvesting of crops, and for protecting the crops from insects and other plant pests. PLANT INDUSTRY STATION 3 2. Methods of drying hay and grains, ginning cotton, and processing other crops and farm products on the farm or in rural communities. 3. Studies dealing with income-producing applications of electrical energy in farming, both as power and as radiations that may affect the growth and production of plants or the health and comfort of farm animals. 4. Improvement of designs of farm storage and service buildings for strength and economy in materials and con- struction, of animal housing with special attention to en- vironmental factors related to the health and production of animals, and of farm housing for more livable homes. National Arboretum.—The Bureau has charge of the development and maintenance of the National Arboretum, estab- lished by Congress in 1927. A National Advisory Committee, appointed by the Secretary of Agriculture, assists in the development plans. PLANT INDUSTRY STATION Headquarters of the Bureau are at Plant Industry Station, a part of the 14,000-acre Agricultural Eesearch Center near Beltsville, Md. The Station is on U. S. No. 1,14 miles north of the Administration Building of the Department of Agri- culture in Washington, D. C. It can be reached by Grey- hound and Trailway busses traveling between Washington and Baltimore. Here are located the offices of the Chief of the Bureau, the business staff, heads of all research divisions except those in agricultural engineering, which are located in the North Laboratory of the Center 3 miles away, and nearly half of the Bureau's 2,100 employees. Five three-story red brick buildings house offices and laboratories, the library, and an auditorium. The four ranges of greenhouses, with connect- ing brick buildings for offices and laboratories of scientists engaged in greenhouse work, cover more than 4 acres of glass. One large greenhouse is used exclusively for research with radioisotopes. A cafeteria at the Station is operated by the USDA Employees Welfare Association. More than 900 Bureau employees are scientists. The re- mainder are in the subprofessional, clerical, fiscal, crafts, protective, and custodial jobs required to keep research mov- 4 PLANT INDUSTRY, SOILS, AND ENGINEERING ing smoothly. More than 1,000 members of the Bureau staff are employed at field stations or are engaged in cooperative research at the State agricultural experiment stations. In addition the staff includes 705 collaborators, many of whom are outstanding scientists on the staffs of the State experiment stations. Bureau employees in the Washington area include a small group of workers at the National Arboretum, which covers about 400 acres in the District of Columbia, and at the Plant Introduction Garden at Glenn Dale, Md. BACKGROUND Some of the work of the Bureau goes back more than a century. In 1819 the Treasury Department directed United States consuls to collect seed, plants, and information on cli- mate, soil, propagation, cultivation, and insect pests in the countries where they were assigned. Twenty years later the Commissioner of Patents was authorized to collect foreign seeds and plants for distribution to farmers in the United States. In 1856 the Commissioner

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